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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>
<br>
<br>
David Frank wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:010001cafb8f$ba8d06a0$2fa713e0$@org" type="cite">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">What
we don't know is if this
term really had anything to do with plowing. That could be a folk
etymology.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Does
anyone reading this know
the answer? Or else, does anybody know how to find out the answer?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">--
David<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
John R Roberts
SIL International Linguistics Consultant
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:dr_john_roberts@sil.org">dr_john_roberts@sil.org</a>
+44 (0)1494 510084
"Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.
Though it cost all you have, get understanding."
Proverbs 4.7
</pre>
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