Bill Poser's posting on Pope Gregory's grammatical guilt (or shame?) reminds me of Gamble Rogers' character Narcissa Nonesuch, the community organizer who riled the Florida panhandle town of Snipes Ford by "talkin' metric to decent folk". I believe that this story also may involve her, or at least a close relative.
Here is a short selection from one of Rogers' CDs, in which he discusses the lexical distinction between dawgs and dogs. I've used this bit in the past as the basis for a course assignment on dialect, formality, class and gender. You could think of it in those terms, or you could just enjoy it as a rant about those obnoxious little yappy dogs. It's your call :-).
Posted by Mark Liberman at December 2, 2003 08:11 AM