"Shorely the vowel is a tad longer in the former?"

Mais non! I was married to an Australian in my former life and you honest-to-god couldn't tell whether he was saying "porn" or "pawn". He and one of his fellow nationals were once talking about a small town near Adelaide(his home) and I thought for all the world the name of the place was Gorla. Until I saw a map one day and saw the town Gawler. Oh how they laughed, those people of dubious parentage, when I told them what I thought. "So OK," sez I,"how would you pronounce something spelled g-o-r-l-a?" and they both said "Gawler." Foreigners talk funny. I know this because I was one the whole year I lived in Australia and people always stared when I spoke out loud.