Dear Phonetically Challenged: This is going to be increasingly difficult unless we arrange a conference call. The way I hear it, "pot" and "put" aren't even part of the discussion: it's about the difference between "toe" and "too." But I'm a Californian. Sonny--do you pronounce "Zooey" and "Joey" more like "pot" or "put"? yours from the land of uncertain vowels-- Becky