For some values of "here" or "not"

Over at the Log, Geoff Pullum complained about the imprecision of the word "consonant" - more accurately, about saying "the two central consonants represented by what sounds like a clearing of the throat" as though the letters were somehow not representing the sound. At any rate, one of his commenters said

There is one and only one application of the knowledge of which letters have been designated "vowels" and which "consonants": to wit, preparation for play on Wheel of Fortune.

And in a perfect display of synchronicity, tonight saw a contestant trying to buy a Y. Then she laughed, Pat laughed, and she bought Os instead. Pat then said, "In real life I guess Y sometimes is a vowel, but not here."

If by "here" he meant "on Wheel of Fortune", then he's right. But if by "here" he meant "in this puzzle," he was wrong. And while the Os were undoubtedly more help with

_ICK_R_   DICK_R_    D_CK     __RKER

than the Y would have been, there is also no doubt that here Y is indeed (representing) a vowel.