# Rhyming “lawyer” and “warrior” **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 25, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805 "2018-05-25T15:50:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/1 "2018-05-25T15:50:20Z")
Do the words “lawyer” and “warrior” rhyme in your dialect? I expect there’s a lot of variety in how these words are pronounced, but I wonder how closely they mirror each other. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/2 "2018-05-25T15:56:35Z")
Definitely not rhyming in general speech, but in a poem/lyrics, I could find them acceptable - at least for amateur writers. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/3 "2018-05-25T15:58:10Z")
The second syllable is pretty darn close - “warrior” has more of the “eee-or” diphthong, while “lawyer” has what I consider a consonant “y” sound. The first syllables are pretty different - does “law” rhyme with “war”? Not in my Texan dialect. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/4 "2018-05-25T16:08:45Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Definitely not rhyming in general speech, but in a poem/lyrics, I could find them acceptable - at least for amateur writers. Agreed. I could fudge the pronunciation enough in a song to make a rhyme out of it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/5 "2018-05-25T16:12:03Z")
No. In my dialect, the syllable count is different. Law-yer vs Warr-i-or. I may blend the final two vowel sounds a bit, but, for me, it’s not as elided as “war-yer”. I voted #2, but, sure, for a poem it’s well within bounds if you’re not of the type that only considers “hard” rhymes acceptable (plus, if you’re being strict about rhyme, the accented syllable onwards has to rhyme, so it’d have to be “lawyer” and “woyer” for it to have a strict (in this case, feminine) rhyme.) ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/6 "2018-05-25T16:13:27Z")
Elderberries. I put too much “loy” in my 2 syllable lawyer and too much “waaar” in my 3 syllable warrior. I’d let it slide in a song, raise an eyebrow at it in a poem, and call you out on it if for some reason we were conversing in rhymes. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/7 "2018-05-25T18:57:12Z")
No, they don’t. Sometimes a comic poem or song uses a deliberately strained rhyme for comic effect. But I don’t think that even Gilbert & Sullivan could make this work. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/8 "2018-05-25T19:20:46Z")
The correct answer to your question is “No”. What you _could_ call them though is: Half-rhyme near-rhyme lazy rhyme approximate rhyme inexact rhyme imperfect rhyme (in contrast to perfect rhyme) off rhyme analyzed rhyme suspended rhyme. All of which are acceptable for poems. (Although, Lawyer and warrior would be a bit of a stretch in my opinion.) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/9 "2018-05-25T20:02:18Z")
A careful pronunciation of “warrior” has three syllables (as in “[Shooting at the walls of heartache bang, bang I am the warrior](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47y5bo8wtqM)”), so no. But I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a quick or “lazy” pronunciation of “warrior” that did rhyme with “lawyer.” ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/10 "2018-05-25T20:13:04Z")
This is exactly why poetic licenses are issued. (close enough) ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/11 "2018-05-25T20:48:10Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > A careful pronunciation of “warrior” has three syllables (as in “[Shooting at the walls of heartache bang, bang I am the warrior](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47y5bo8wtqM)”), so no. But I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a quick or “lazy” pronunciation of “warrior” that did rhyme with “lawyer.” My extremely exaggeratedly lazy pronunciation of “warrior” sounds very different from “lawyer”, so that it would be ridiculous even in a bad amateur poem. (i.e. the combination would never even occur to a 14-year-old poet who talks the way I do) ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/12 "2018-05-25T21:01:20Z")
What _does_ work in my accent, using a little bit of “lazy pronunciation licence”: Everyone is sorry you’re Stuck on rhyming “warrior”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/13 "2018-05-25T22:10:36Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > (Although, Lawyer and warrior would be a bit of a stretch in my opinion.) It’d be close enough. Let me look through a book of Seamus Heaney poems I have and see what types of rhymes he has. From Glanmore Sonnets I, I see: ground/sound years/tractors breathe/lathe field/tilled sense/redolence aprons/stations rose/snows “Lawyer” and “Warrior” are well within these bounds, I would say. Near-rhymes are quite effective (and, in general, a bit more pleasing to my ear than an incessant stream of perfect rhymes for most subjects. That’s a personal opinion, but perfect rhymes can end up sounding nursery-rhymish to me after awhile. Near rhymes are a bit more gentle.) ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/14 "2018-05-25T22:19:20Z")
Try saying “lawyer”, but replace the “L” with a “W”. Now say “warrior” really fast. In most dialects, those are going to be pretty close. No, it’s not how most people would usually pronounce “warrior,” but you’d certainly be understood. That’s good enough for a poem, amateur or otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/15 "2018-05-25T22:24:14Z")
_… your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!_ ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/16 "2018-05-25T22:33:46Z")
Your mother was a hamster, and not that good a dancer Your father smelt of elderberries, unlike his contemporaries. ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/17 "2018-05-25T22:51:15Z")
Those word don’t rhyme in conversation, but I call it “close enough for rock n roll”. So I voted yes. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/18 "2018-05-25T22:56:04Z")
_Shooting at the walls of heartache I am the lawyer Heart to heart, you’ll win If you survive, the lawyer The lawyer, I am the lawyer_ Nope. Not working for me. At all. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/19 "2018-05-25T23:00:24Z")
In my very lazy Northern California accent, they are a perfect rhyme: (first syllable rhymes with toy, second syllable rhymes with her) loy - yer woy - yer I would call the local basketball team the Woy-yers. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805/20 "2018-05-25T23:01:53Z")
To me they match like “clam sale” and “Taco Bell” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhyming-lawyer-and-warrior/814805.md?page=2)