To change the subject (slightly): When I was growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, we kids pronounced "fart" exactly like "fort." I have no idea why.

In those days, adults didn't use such language in front of kids, so I don't know how the adults pronounced it (except for my dad, but he was from Kentucky, and pronounced a lot of words in an odd way, so I paid no attention to him). I probably had moved away before I learned that "fart" was spelled with an "a" and that most of the world pronounced it exactly the way it looks. Anyone else encountered this?