[Ads-l] Eggcorn: old stopping grounds

[Wilson Gray]

On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 10:30 AM, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:

> historically, the verb "stomp" (probably) represents a mere pronunciation
> variant of "stamp."
>

Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia
Roger D. Abrahams - 1964 - Page 267
Folklore Associates, Inc.; Hatboro, Pennsylvania
_Stomp_ - Corruption of _stamp_, grind under one's feet. Perhaps just a
common *Negro* [emphasis supplied] pronunciation. See Wentworth and
Flexner, 522

It's odd that Abrahams seems to consider _stomp_ to be a pronunciation
merely "common," given that it's been the "standard" BE pronunciation since
the 19th C. and can easily be found as the standard  term even in "white"
publications like LIFE, from at least 1960.

So many supposed instances of _stomp_ in GB turned out to be, in fact,
_stamp_ that I stopped trying to find the earliest example of _stomp_.

Uh, this won't be on the final, will it? ;-)
-- 
-Wilson
-----
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.
-Mark Twain

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