stoutfellow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stoutfellow) wrote2012-07-07 08:43 am
stoutfellow) wrote2012-07-07 08:43 am
I Suspect...
After a little poking around, and some discussion on the American Dialect Society mailing list, I have a hypothesis about the pronunciation "susPECT" of the noun.
Item: "The Kennel Murder Case" (1933) was directed by Michael Curtiz and starred William Powell. Powell was one of the three characters who used that pronunciation; the other two were lesser lights.
Item: In "The Thin Man" (1934), directed by W. S. Van Dyke, Powell again used that pronunciation. So did his co-star, Myrna Loy.
Item: Curtiz also directed "Casablanca" (1942), in which Claude Rains, memorably, said "SUSpects".
Item: In 1933, Powell was already an established star. Curtiz had considerable experience as a director (much of it in his native Hungary), but had not become a big name. ("The Kennel Murder Case" was his first big hit.)
Hypothesis: Powell was the vector. The pronunciation "susPECT" was an idiosyncracy of his, which he enforced by his star power.
(It may not have been an idiosyncracy. One ADS-L correspondent asserts that his mother was an Irish immigrant, and that he might have learned it from her. I can't confirm the statement about his mother, and The Oxford Guide to World English doesn't mention this stress-change in connection with Irish English. Neither of these, of course, is conclusive.)
ASIDE: "Make Yours a Happy House" is apparently the official title of the current song, even though throughout the singers say "happy home".
Item: "The Kennel Murder Case" (1933) was directed by Michael Curtiz and starred William Powell. Powell was one of the three characters who used that pronunciation; the other two were lesser lights.
Item: In "The Thin Man" (1934), directed by W. S. Van Dyke, Powell again used that pronunciation. So did his co-star, Myrna Loy.
Item: Curtiz also directed "Casablanca" (1942), in which Claude Rains, memorably, said "SUSpects".
Item: In 1933, Powell was already an established star. Curtiz had considerable experience as a director (much of it in his native Hungary), but had not become a big name. ("The Kennel Murder Case" was his first big hit.)
Hypothesis: Powell was the vector. The pronunciation "susPECT" was an idiosyncracy of his, which he enforced by his star power.
(It may not have been an idiosyncracy. One ADS-L correspondent asserts that his mother was an Irish immigrant, and that he might have learned it from her. I can't confirm the statement about his mother, and The Oxford Guide to World English doesn't mention this stress-change in connection with Irish English. Neither of these, of course, is conclusive.)
ASIDE: "Make Yours a Happy House" is apparently the official title of the current song, even though throughout the singers say "happy home".
no subject