Those Pesky Rhotics Again

In what little "free" time I have, I've been catching up on Classic Doctor Who. Lately I've been on a Pertwee kick, and I could have sworn that the second doctor's initial companion was named Liz Shore.

So much so that I didn't even think about it. The sound quality of the recordings I have is not the greatest, so it took me the better part of an episode to be certain that her given name was Liz, but her surname was a complete non-issue.

However? I was wikipedia-ing something recently, and discovered that the character's surname is in fact Shaw, not Shore. Eek!

I have to confess that I have always harbored quietly negative feelings towards the intrusive /r/. I grew up essentially bidialectal (surrounded by rampant r-less-ness, rhotic codas intact in the home) and while I certainly acquired r-dropping, I was rather annoyed whenever I heard someone say idear or Amandar. [As a child, I also harbored an irrational hatred for questions formed with how come, but that's another story].

Well, I guess it turns out I do have something of an intrusive /r/ after all. In hearing Miss Shaw's name as Shore, I overcompensated for presumed anti-rhoticity without even realizing it. To be fair, I am also relatively unfamiliar with the RP vowel system, so that may have contributed to my misperception.

Relatedly, many of my students come from Eastern MA, and I've noticed my own r-less-ness creeping back in. This could be due to several factors: a) speaking with r-droppers influences my speech, b) I am more frequently exhausted this semester now that I'm teaching, or c) being around r-droppers causes me to notice it more in my own speech. In any case, it's interesting.

In unrelated news, Dumbledore is... wait, no, sorry. I don't care.