[at-l] House a tonic? or Hoose a tonic?

[Phil.Heffington@oc.edu (Phil Heffington)]

Or is it a mix of how some of the Canadians pronouce "house", like "haoose"=
.  I hiked the section along the Housatonic River this summer and never hea=
rd anyone pronounce it.  Being devoid of any Yankee blood or upbringing I a=
m wondering what the proper, or even local, pronunciation of the word "Hous=
atonic" might be.  Give me a little help.

I also went to Montana this year and drove through the Dakotas on the way. =
 I'm 55 years old and just learned this summer that Pierre, South Datota is=
 pronounced like "Peer" instead of  "Pee yare".  I'm from Washita county Ok=
lahoma by birth.  You can imagine how sensitive some of us get about how th=
at is sometimes pronounced. (It is "Wash it tah".)