I’m from Connecticut and used to work in a call center taking insurance claims nationwide. I once got a call from a guy in rural North Carolina, who had a super thick accent. He was explaining that the damage to his car came from the tar blowing up and I was trying to figure out wtf he meant by this (sometimes customers are nuts or lie- it was okay to take down a story that definitely didn’t happen, it just needs to be clear and true to what the caller claimed). I kept asking what caused the asphalt to explode and he was totally uninterested, saying it was old, sometimes that happens, isn’t that our job to figure out?
Anyway, I was having a tough time understanding this guy, but my coworker went to college in Tennessee, so I roped her in and transferred him.
His tire exploded, not the tar. He just pronounced tire the way that I pronounce tar. For me, it’s two syllables and indistinguishable from the word for one who ties.
I’m from Connecticut and used to work in a call center taking insurance claims nationwide. I once got a call from a guy in rural North Carolina, who had a super thick accent. He was explaining that the damage to his car came from the tar blowing up and I was trying to figure out wtf he meant by this (sometimes customers are nuts or lie- it was okay to take down a story that definitely didn’t happen, it just needs to be clear and true to what the caller claimed). I kept asking what caused the asphalt to explode and he was totally uninterested, saying it was old, sometimes that happens, isn’t that our job to figure out?
Anyway, I was having a tough time understanding this guy, but my coworker went to college in Tennessee, so I roped her in and transferred him.
His tire exploded, not the tar. He just pronounced tire the way that I pronounce tar. For me, it’s two syllables and indistinguishable from the word for one who ties.