Poetry Friday: Does Gull Rhyme With Pull? (Say Yes!)

While my husband and I were waiting for our younger daughter's orchestra concert to begin, I was reading over some CYBILS books, and I gave him one to read. He read a few poems, shaking his head. Finally, he said, "Sheesh. He's rhyming 'gull' with 'pull.'"

I thought he said "gull" and "pole." My husband's no fan of slant rhyme, and I figured this one just didn't cut it for him. Then he said, "Just because they're spelled the same doesn't mean you can pretend they sound the same."

"Huh? What words did you say?" I asked.

"Gull" and "pull."

...................................................................................................................................................

OK, am I alone here? To me, gull and pull rhyme. Perfectly. We spent the next ten minutes debating it, and I came home determined to prove him wrong. Alas, both the dictionary and rhymezone.com apparently feel gull and pull do not rhyme. Clearly, my husband bribed them!

Perhaps this explains why I can't hear my daughter's slight speech impediment, even though other people can. Anyway, it got me worrying. Am I using words that don't really rhyme, and I only think they do? Am I pronunciation-impaired? This is weighing heavy on mind.

I went to What American Accent Do You Have? and took the quick quiz. (There's a slightly longer quiz--18 questions--here.) Here are my results:

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland   "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
North Central
Boston
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

 
I'm from Orlando (and most of Florida does not have a southern accent) and moved to Minneapolis when I was in my 20s. The rest of my family is from Indiana--I'm the only one born in Florida.

So it doesn't say that I can't hear the slight distinction between "gull" and "pull," but that's small comfort. Maybe I'm going around speaking like the person I always laughed at in the phonics commercial on TV. You know the one, the woman who proudly announced, "They taught me the pronoun-say-shun of words." Is that what my result means when it says "You have a good voice for TV and radio."

Yikes. 

Does anyone else have this problem? Please share and make me feel less like a moron.

Addendum: Here's another fun quiz to see whether you're a "Yankee or a Rebel." Mine came out 33% Dixie. I am "Definitely a Yankee." Born and raised in Florida, but I've always felt like a Northerner!  And, more fun: Visit the Speech Accent Archive to hear people from all over speak the same paragraph. Very, very cool if you want to use some accents in your writing or if you have a character whose first language is not English. Warning: you will get tired of hearing about Stella's shopping list. Thanks to my husband Randy for all the resources!

AmoXcalli has the Poetry Friday Roundup today. Check it out!