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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>John --<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Yes, I imagine that
"plough mud" is an Americanism, but in fact I believe the vast
majority of Americans wouldn't know that term. As far as I can tell, its use is
restricted to the Charleston area of South Carolina, which is on the southeastern
U.S. coastline. For you non-Americans, Charleston is alongside Baltimore and
Boston as one of the oldest cities and ports in what is now the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>My interest in Charleston is
that it is the port where most slaves were brought to these shores, and it is
in the area where the Gullah language and culture got established. The person
who asked me about "plough mud" has a book in press about Gullah, though
I am not sure that word has anything to do with Gullah. When she asked me this
question, we happened to be visiting the grave of Porgy, of <i>Porgy and Bess</i>
fame.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I don't think "plough
mud" is a vulgar expression in terms of being crude, but it is vulgar in
terms of being common language. Do a Google search on it. I found that the
spelling "plough mud" got more hits than "pluff mud,"
though neither one of them got a lot of hits. I didn't get anything for
"plow mud."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>As to the question of why the
spelling would be "plough mud" rather than "plow mud," I
have two guesses. The first is that the spelling of "plough" might
have been in use some, even on these shores. My KJV Bible that I have here uses
the spelling "plow," but I am guessing that some KJV Bibles that were
in use in the Charleston area in the past might have used the spelling
"plough." That is just a guess, and I have to be careful about such
guesses.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>My second guess is probably
more likely, namely that "plough mud" doesn't really have anything to
do with plowing. The person who asked me about the term did think it was
associated with plowing, but the Google search I did didn't show up anything
about using this mud in plowing or for fertilzer. That could be a folk
etymology.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>If plough mud doesn't have an
etymological connection with plowing, then there is another possibility pointed
out to me this morning by my colleague Dick Watson. There is an old Scottish
word "pluff" what means about the same thing as "puff." It
could be spelled "plough" on analogy with "rough."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>So I have already told you
more than I know, and I will wait to see if any more insights are coming.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>-- David Frank<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:windowtext'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:windowtext'> lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>John Roberts<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, May 25, 2010 3:29 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Lexicog] plough mud<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>David,<br>
<br>
I don't have any answers to your queries, but I had a comment and a query.<br>
<br>
Comment: "plough mud" appears to be an Americanism, since I don't
find it in any of my English dictionaries, including my dictionaries on slang
expressions.<br>
<br>
Query: If "plough mud" is an American expression why is it not
spelled "plow mud"?<br>
<br>
And finally, for a nonAmerican who has never heard this expression before is it
actually a "vulgar" expression?<br>
<br>
John Roberts<br>
<br>
<br>
<span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span
style='color:#1F497D'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>
</span></div>
<p class=MsoNormal>David Frank wrote: <o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I was in Charleston, SC, last
week, a friend of mine who is a researcher and an author but not a linguist
asked me to help make some sense out of the term "plough mud,"
pronounced and sometimes spelled "pluff mud." You can do a Google
search if you want to see more about how the term is used. This term seems to
be local to Charleston.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Plough mud is dark brown
silty mud that reportedly can be used as fertilizer. I was asked whether
perhaps "plough" (plow) was pronounced a couple hundred years ago
with an /f/ sound at the end, rhyming with English "rough." I said
that I didn't know, but I would try to find out.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>What we do know is that "plough
mud" and "pluff mud" refer to the same thing, and that the
latter spelling is more representative of its pronunciation.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>What we don't know is if this
term really had anything to do with plowing. That could be a folk etymology.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Another thing I don't know is
whether "plough" was ever pronounced, in the past, perhaps
dialectally, like "pluff." It is a reasonable guess, based on analogy
with "rough," but a reasonable guess isn't good enough. In fact, the
little bit of etymological research I have done has not shown that to be a
pronunciation.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Does anyone reading this know
the answer? Or else, does anybody know how to find out the answer?</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>-- David</span><span
style='color:white'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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