"Strew" rhymes w/"sew" redux

[Jonathan Lighter]

I say "strewn," young pup.

JL

Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
Subject: Re: "Strew" rhymes w/"sew" redux
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On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 16:24:09 -0400, Wilson Gray 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

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