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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'>I checked with some friends from
Charleston and here is what they said in several emails numbered in order below:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'>#1: From: R - All I know is that now, it
is in fact pronounced “pluff” and is a terrible and beautiful smell to me at
the same time. Smells like the marsh. I have never heard it pronounced
any other way, and both of us have family that still say many things the “old
way.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'>#2: From R - The only place we have this
stuff is in the marsh…which is full of salt. The only things we ever see
growing there are marsh grass and fiddler crabs. Granted, there are a lot
of old rice patties in Charleston. Still, they don’t grow in “pluff”
mud. I cannot imagine plowing anything that grows in that stuff, and it
does seem very different from the dirt that is left behind after normal plants
are plowed (my grandparents were farmers). Another thought is, having grown
up visiting a low country farm a lot, I never heard my grandparents refer to
mud there as plow or pluff mud. W’s grandparents were farmers too (and W’s
family lived on the pluff mud). He agrees that pluff mud is specific to
the marshes and is not connected to farming (at least now). We will call
W’s dad who is the only person we know who might possibly have some other take
on this. W suggests that you try and find the German root of the word and
see what you come up with. We’ll let you know if we get anything from W’s
dad.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'>#3: From R - Looked it up, and rice did,
in fact, grow in pluff mud<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'>#4: From R's mom - </span></font><font
color="#002060"><span lang=EN style='color:#002060'>I asked W's dad and he has
no clue, but the plough concept does not work for me. Pluff Mud is salt
water. Marsh grass is about the only plant that grows in it.
Plowing it makes no sense. Below is a brief description of the rice
cultivation along coastal SC and from what you can see at places like
Middleton, there was no plowing that occurred. Rice is the only other
thing that I am aware ever grew in pluff mud. For someone who has
experienced getting his feet in the mud, it does make a popping sound when the
foot is pulled out.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'>This prime, quality soil, abundant for
hundreds of square miles around Charleston, was one of the reasons that in the
1700's and 1800's rice production became by far the city's most important
industry. The quality of the crop was unsurpassed, and several well-known
varieties came from the area, such as one known as <a
href="http://www.charlestonwiki.org/index.php?title=Carolina_Gold&action=edit"
title="Carolina Gold"><font color="#002060"><span style='color:#002060'>Carolina
Gold</span></font></a>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'>The soft soil couldn't support the types
of farming machinery available at the time. But in Charleston, where slave
labor was used to work the fields, this was not a major problem. Rice had been
being cultivated in Africa for hundreds of years so most of the slaves arriving
in Charleston already had the knowledge they needed to be efficient workers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'>After the Civil War rice produced in
Charleston could no longer compete on the open market due to the expensive cost
of labor to work the fields. Louisiana, however, had soil very similar to
Charlestons' but not quite as soft. Machinery could be used there and Louisiana
still produces a large cash crop of rice each year. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'><a
href="http://www.charlestonwiki.org/Middleton_Place" title="Middleton Place"><font
color="#002060"><span style='color:#002060'>Middleton Place Plantation</span></font></a>
in Charleston still has a preserved section of rice field which is kept up
somewhat but not on a scale large enough to be profitable. It is mainly used
for education and tourism purposes. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'>#5: From R: </span>I think my
mom makes a good point here. Also, my mother in law says it's called
pluff mud because of the sound it makes when you walk on it. I read
somewhere else that “pluff” is the sound things make when they fall in it. Very
true. Not sure if this has anything to do with the name or if it is just
common thought, but that’s the word on the street at least.<o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'>Crockett<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#002060'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color="#002060" face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#002060'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>
lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com [mailto:lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>David Frank<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Monday, May 24, 2010 10:23
PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b>
lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [Lexicog] plough mud<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div id=ygrp-mlmsg>
<div id=ygrp-msg>
<div id=ygrp-text>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 color="#1f497d" face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
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></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 color="#1f497d" face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
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></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 color="#1f497d" face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
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></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 color="#1f497d" face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
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></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 color="#1f497d" face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
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></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 color="#1f497d" face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
color:#1F497D'>Does anyone reading this know the answer? Or else, does anybody
know how to find out the answer?</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 color="#1f497d" face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
color:#1F497D'>-- David</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 color="#1f497d" face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
color:#1F497D'> </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
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style='font-size:12.0pt;color:white'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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