pompatus not in OED

[Wilson Gray]

Well, I was only going by what I hear on the "Greatest Hits" CD and
what I heard on the original 78. However, Googling reveals multi
[pronounced "MULL-tie," an in-group slang pronunciation of "multiple,"
used for "many" by me and my friends, back in the '50's]spellings with
"t" instead of "d," So, allow me to withdraw my "correction," since
all of the easily-documented claims seem to be a matter of opinion and
not of fact. Consider, for example, the following:

_Green's famous recitation on "The Letter" contained the nonsense
lyric, "the pulpitudes of love," which was later picked up by Steve
Miller as "the pompitudes of love"—which became the title of a 1990s
film._

What can you do? As the person who quoted the above notes, "At least
Green gets the credit."

-Wilson



On 5/20/07, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
> Subject:      Re: pompatus not in OED
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >It's "puppetu_d_es."
>
> I originally typed "puppetudes," but then I looked at the source that
> was first in my field of vision and saw it with a t, so I changed it
> without double-checking other sources. I'll happily go with a d.
> Makes more sense, and apparently Green didn't write it down anyway,
> so we can have our way!
>
> James Harbeck.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org