"Strew" rhymes w/"sew" redux

[Wilson Gray]

I don't agree with you at all. But, given that this is a matter of
opinion and not a matter of fact, if you want the last word, you may
have it. ;-)

-Wilson

On 9/22/05, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at rci.rutgers.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Strew" rhymes w/"sew" redux
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 16:24:09 -0400, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> >Some may remember a brief discussion re the pronunciation of "strew"
> >so that the vowel rhymes with that of "sew," hence "str[o]w str[o]wed
> >str[o]wn" like "sew sewed sewn." AFAIC  recall, no one else had ever
> >heard this pronunciation. Even I am familiar with it only because this
> >pronunciation is the one used in my family.
> >
> >Today, I heard Judge Greg Mathis ask whether garbage was "str[o]wn"
> >about. Judge Mathis is a native of Detroit. Hence the following WAG:
> >the strew-rhymes-with-sew feature
> >is peculiar to (some subdialect(s) of) of BE.
>
> Not knowing about this subdialectal feature, I would've guessed that
> "strown (about)" represents a blend of "strewn" and "thrown", especially
> since the "strew"/"strewn" paradigm (however pronounced) is fading from
> most AmE dialects.
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>


--
-Wilson Gray