@newtscamander No, I agree with @thorninmud and others. I pronounce bowl with a long dipthong of the “w” and the “l”, a barely pronounced second syllable. “Cole” is very much one syllable.
By the way, my pronunciation is very much Northern Californian.
Great question, since my first name is Joel. My family and I always pronounced it in one syllable, Jole. It’s pronounced that way online here but in two syllables here.
@zenvelo Are the northern and southern California dialects significantly different? I keep repeating the words over and over again because they sound like pure rhymes to me, but that might be because I’m not used to discerning them.
This is fascinating! I suppose my Texas ears have never even considered a pronunciation that wasn’t two distinct syllables. And here’s my Texas buddy, Pachy, telling me I’ve never pronounced his name correctly. Live and learn.
@muppetish It’s not really a “w” sound; it’s more likely that I am using the same dipthong for both the “ow” in bowl and the “oe” in Joel. I’m not sure if this is a California thing, a Southern California thing, an LA thing, or a muppetish thing.