That animal that is also known as an “ass” - is it called a “Donkey” or a “Dunkey?”
My dad calls it a “Dunkey” and I’ve heard this pronunciation from many others as well. But I call it a “Donkey” because that’s how the goddamn word is spelled.
Know what I mean?
What’s yr opinion?
I’m remembering a line from some work of literature where a character differentiates between city folk and country folk by noting that the latter say “Sweetly Sings the Dunkey.”
I’m guessing it’s a regional pronunciation. Southern or Appalachian, maybe?
I’m from Appalachia, and I have heard it pronounced “dunkey.”
Well, my dad is from Queens, New York. He says “Dunkey.” He also says “Harrah movie” instead of “Horror movie” and “Harrahble” instead of “Horrible.”
How do you say “monkey”?
I say “donkey,” but I say “munkey.” They look like they should rhyme, but they don’t.
Dawnkee.
How 'bout them little green amphibians? I call 'em frowgs. Drives me nuts when folks calls 'em frahgs.
Yes I know exactly what you mean and that is exactly how I pronounce the word and why.
I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t inunciate well enough to say “donkey”.
It’s not a matter of enunciation, some people just pronounce words differently. However, I* pronounce it something like “DONG-key,” and I believe everyone I know would pronounce it more or less that way. I’m sure I’ve heard it pronounced differently, but I can’t recall where.
I don’t know what the difference between “frowgs” and “frahgs” is supposed to be. Is that an “ow” as in “blow” or “cow”? In either case, I’ve never heard “frogs” pronounced that way.
*Southern California-born and raised.
It’s the difference in the “O” sound in the words “Cotton” and “Moth.”
It’s like this. You know the word ‘raw’, right? Like ‘awe’, or ‘straw’. Fraw. Then put the g on it. "frawg’. There is a real ‘w’ sound in there.
Like ‘dawg’, really.
I say ‘dawn-kee’ also.
If that last post is about the difference between “frowgs” and “frahgs”, perhaps a better way to spell what is meant by “frowgs” would be “frawgs”. Of course, if you have the cot-caught merger, then the two vowels of interest might not be distinguished in your native accent.
ETA: I typed this up before seeing NinetyWt’s post, which sort of explains things perfectly, except I wouldn’t say “There is a real ‘w’ sound in there”; it’s just a different vowel is all.
Shrek says dunkey, doesn’t he?
I pronounce it “Throatwarbler Mangrove.”
It depends upon how Deep your South is, of course. My kids’ daddy really puts that ‘w’ in there. I don’t think I say it quite that way, as you say, it’s more in the vowel. But, he can’t spell either, and I think he says words by how they sound rather than how they’re written. He would write down “Wal Mark”, for example, instead of ‘WalMart’.
Dunkey is hick German for thank you. Donkey is is a beast of burden.
I think he pronounces it like Mike Meyers does. 
Ah. I’m pretty sure I say “cot” and “caught” exactly the same.
If I try to imitate the way “dog” sounds when pronounced by, for example, some southerners, the closest I can come up with is something like “dah-ugh” (without a clear break between the vowel sounds). If I’m laying it on really thick, I might try “dah-oog.” Is it something like that?
ETA: Shrek’s accent is quite distinct from Mike Myers’ normal pronunciation.
ETA: I’m surprised by the suggestion that there’s a difference between the (presumably first) o in “cotton” and the o in “moth”. You’d think King of the Hill would have taught me that.
That would again be the cot-caught vowel difference (in this case, as caused by what’s known as the lot-cloth split); if you don’t have the former distinction, you won’t have the latter one either (though the converse implication doesn’t hold universally).
I have heard many people pronounce frog with the same “og” sound as cog, as in a gear system. The same og sound as in toggle like the switch.
I pronounce it fr aw(as in aw, isn’t that a cute frog) g.
One syllable
Donkey, short O.
“Cot” and “Caught” sound exactly the same to me.