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I've seen people discuss the intrusive 'R'. I have also been very curious about this subject, because I am from Mississippi and both my Mother and my Grandmother use the intrusive 'R'. ('Warsh', instead of 'Wash'). I know they came from the hill country of Mississippi (the northeastern corner (Tishomingo) of Mississippi) and my Mother is 50% Scottish. My question: Is anyone aware that this intrusive 'R' extends all the way to Mississippi? Thank You.

RiverMiss
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    Related and possible duplicate. The R in gosh, wash, washing, Washington, washcloth is probably not the same as what's normally referred to as intrusive-R such as in lore and order or the very idear of it. – tchrist Jan 08 '23 at 19:13
  • @tchrist You've finally explained something from Popeye I've had lying dormant for decades.'Gorsh, ....' – Edwin Ashworth Jan 08 '23 at 19:43
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    Yes, this is the Midlands pronunciation of (in my idiolect -- I was born in 1942 in DeKalb, IL) "warsh, warshing, Warshington, garsh!" and that's all. It is an /r/ and it is intrusive, but it's not the same "intrusive r" one gets in the non-rhotic northeastern dialects. Southern dialects are a different kettle of fish entirely, and I don't know diddly about them. – John Lawler Jan 09 '23 at 16:10

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