I heard a radio interview once with a woman who could identofy where you were raised, within about 50 miles, just by your pronunciation of various words. Crick, Creek, Brook, Stream, whatever. She knew where each was used.

: Most folks spell words to represent the way they sound to them (that's why
: there's common mixups between shear/sheer, peddle/pedal, your/you're etc.
: -- they sound the same, they get spelled the same... so I just figured
: that you're from somewhere in the south and spelling the word like I
: imagine you pronouncing it-- with a bit of a southern drawl
: --"haul" ...rhyming with "small", rather than
: "hull", rhyming with ??? (I'm drawing a blank on a rhyming word)
: but the "U" in the middle of the word sounds like
: "uh". In the northern part of the US (I grew up in the Pacific
: Northwest, so I have no accent ) "hall" and
: "haul" are pronounced the same, but "haul" and
: "hull" are not... but that may not hold true everywhere, given
: different regional accents.

: Julie Kanarr