"Drouth"

[Charles Doyle]

I believe Larry is speaking historically: Until the 16th century, "autor" or "autour" was the normal spelling, presumably representing the standard English pronunciation. Sometime in the 15th century, Frenchmen started spelling the word "authour," which would (probably) represent the same pronunciation as "autour." However, when the French (mis?-)spelling "authour" made its way to England, Englishmen began pronouncing the word with an unhistorical [T] or theta.

Similarly with the proper name "Anthony" . . .

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 17:10:04 +0000
>From: ronbutters at AOL.COM
>
>"Be" what? How else would one spell these words (or pronounce them as they are normally uttered in the USA?)
>____________________
>
>Larry Horn wrote:
>
>Wouldn't the /T/ in "author" be one?  And the one in "Anthony" (U.S. pronunciation) be another?

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