# AAVE and "ambulance"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aave-and-ambulance/318192>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 22, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aave-and-ambulance/318192 "2005-08-22T23:31:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aave-and-ambulance/318192/1 "2005-08-22T23:31:39Z")

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I think we’ve discussed the AAVE (African-American vernacular English) pronunciation af “ask” and “aunt” before.

Whenever I hear blacks say the word “ambulance”, it’s usually pronounced as “am-boo-LANCE”. It’s also said with more of an emphasis or stress than other words in a sentence. What are the origins of this pronunciation?

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**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aave-and-ambulance/318192/2 "2005-08-23T12:18:11Z")

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One bump.