More Non-rhotic homophones

Earlier I blogged about a British tv show in which I mistook the word Stornton for Staunton. I wondered about the vowel - did they say a different one for that which is written AU?

Well, today, in China Mieville's Kraken, which is set in London, he tells of a meeting place with "This is the Loar" carved over the door.

Law or lore it may be - "Loar" a superposition of those two homophones - but let's not be idiots.

But for me, law and lore are absolutely not homophones, and it's not just the R, either. The vowel is different. My sister Laura or a guy named Lawrence, and Lorie and the truck or bird (lorry, lorikeet) don't have the same vowel.

So that's that answered. And thinking of it, I've heard storm pronounce with that -aw- vowel, too.