Boise

The other night, I was talking with my roommate, Jess, and our friends J and L. We were talking about where my roommate is from, the Boise area, and then we got into a discussion about how to say it. Jess said that she says it with an s sound like "boy see," but J and L insisted that it was said "boy zee." From TX and CA respectively, their proof that theirs was the correct pronunciation was that the sportscasters on ESPN said it like that. However, I have grown up with hearing it like Jess says it. A few days later I asked a girl in one of my classes, who is from Idaho how she said it and she told me the same pronunciation as Jess. I assume from this that people in Idaho say the s rather than the z and also those in Utah, since that is where I am from. Some people from TX and CA obviously say it with the z sound, but that may be the influence of ESPN sportscasters. :)

Squaw Peak

So, I was walking with my friend Lewis on Sunday and we were talking about the mountains and I was commenting how beautiful they are with the colors changing. He asked which one was Squaw Peak and I pointed it out to him and asked him if he knew why it was called that. He said he didn't and I proceeded to tell him something about how a young Indian maiden jumped off the peak when her lover died. I didn't know the precise legend, so I left it at that. I also had heard a story in my Church History class about how during a time of conflict between the settlers and the Indians, some of the Indians were cornered up there and some of them fell off the cliff and died.

However, I started to get curious about it and wanted to know the real story. I searched online but it took me a little while before I could find anything about the story. I finally found an article in the Deseret News about the name of Squaw Peak: "In February 1850, a white-Indian conflict broke out at the mouth of the Provo River. Big Elk, a chief of the local Piute Indians, was killed in the struggle, and "his squaw fled with others toward the foothills to the east." During the escape, she fell from the peak and died." I found another account of the story in a document about Indian names in Utah. However, I did find a reference to the story that I told my friend: "Squaw Peak was formed when an Indian maiden died so she could be with her lover"

I found it interesting that I had heard the story in its changed form of a Indian woman jumping off the cliff when I was a child, but then also the story about the Indians being cornered up there, but I reverted to the story I had heard in my childhood when telling it to a friend.

Tense and Lax Vowels

In my English Language class today I learned the different characteristics of the vowels in English. One thing that I thought was really interesting is the Utah or Western States dialect (Sorry, I don't know all the correct terminology yet. Maybe later in the semester). Anyway, many Utahns and other Westerners make many of their vowels lax where others make them tense.
The classic example of this that most people have heard of is creek being pronounced "crick." However, I have not heard this one very much. Ones that I find much more common (and which I do myself) are leg and egg pronounced with the e vowel sound in "end" instead of with the a vowel sound of "age." Another case of making a vowel lax (this one I do not do, but many of my friends do) is making the word "sale" sound the same or very similar to "cell." Other examples that I noticed are "feel" being pronounced as "fill" and "steal" pronounced as "still."
The interesting thing is that the vowels that are switched to lax from tense (or vice versa) are similar in every other aspect (e.g. high, front, unrounded). Thus the switch is partially logical.

Too Many Cooks...

So, I was at my apartment a few days ago when my roommate came into my room and had me listen to one of her messages. The message was from her classmate who was talking about some group project and too many people in the group. In the message she said, "You know, it would be like too many cooks cooking the meal." My roommate laughed at that because she said, "That's not even how the saying goes. It is 'too many cooks in the kitchen.'" I thought this was interesting that the girl used this proverb, albeit differently than my roommate knew it, so I looked it up online. The most common version I found was "Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the soup," however, often the word soup was replaced by stew or broth. Interesting.

Straw wrapper

So, I was at Red Robin on Saturday night after the football game against UCLA (We beat them 59 to 0. Go Cougs!) eating with some friends. While we were waiting for our food to arrive, we were playing with our straw wrappers and Lewis tied one in a knot and gave it to Jessica to pull apart. When she appeared confused, he proceeded to explain the tradition involved with it. He said that you tie it in a knot and then pull on both ends until it rips. If it still has a knot in it after you tear it apart, it means someone loves you. If not, you're out of luck.
While I (from UT), Lewis (from CA), and Jonny (from TX) all knew the tradition, Jess and her sister (from ID) had never heard of it.
I searched online and I found a few variations of this tradition. One of them was that you think of someone and if the knot stays in (or comes undone--another variation) then that person is thinking of you. I also found one that was for two people. You tie the knot, both make a wish, and both pull on one end. The person who gets the knot on their end has their wish come true.
Fun little tradition.