greasy

Our Living Language One of our most notable regional distinctions is the "greasy-greazy" line. It is famous among scholars of American dialects for marking a clear division between major dialect regions of the United States. In the North and West, greasy is pronounced with an (s) sound; in the Midland dialect region and the South, it is pronounced with a (z). According to the Dictionary of American Regional English, the "greazy" region extends from the Deep South to southern parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois and all of Missouri, Texas, and New Mexico. The verb grease also follows this pattern, although not the noun grease, which is pronounced with an (s) sound everywhere. A few Southerners also use (z) in blouse. The (z) pronunciation is so stable and so characteristic of Southern dialects that dialect scholars use it to trace the migration of Southern speakers into other dialect areas, such as Colorado, Oregon, and California.

pron: greasy is almost always pronounced as (ˈgri zi) with a medial (z), in the South Midland and Southern U.S. and as (ˈgri si) with a medial (s), in New England, New York State, and the Great Lakes Basin. Speakers of New Jersey and E Pennsylvania are divided, with some using (s) and some using (z). Standard British English reflects both (z) and (s) pronunciations and British folk speech is also divided regionally, with (z) heard in the eastern counties and (s) in the central and western ones. Both pronunciations were brought to the colonies.