<head>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
/* start of attachment style */
.ygrp-photo-title{
clear: both;
font-size: smaller;
height: 15px;
overflow: hidden;
text-align: center;
width: 75px;
}
div.ygrp-photo{
background-position: center;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-color: white;
border: 1px solid black;
height: 62px;
width: 62px;
}
div.photo-title
a,
div.photo-title a:active,
div.photo-title a:hover,
div.photo-title a:visited {
text-decoration: none;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row {
clear: both;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row div {
float: left;
/* margin: 2px;*/
}
p {
clear: both;
padding: 15px 0 3px 0;
overflow: hidden;
}
div.ygrp-file {
width: 30px;
valign: middle;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row div div a {
text-decoration: none;
}
div.attach-table div.attach-row div div span {
font-weight: normal;
}
div.ygrp-file-title {
font-weight: bold;
}
/* end of attachment style */
-->
</style>
</head>
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
#ygrp-mkp {
border: 1px solid #d8d8d8;
font-family: Arial;
margin: 10px 0;
padding: 0 10px;
}
#ygrp-mkp hr {
border: 1px solid #d8d8d8;
}
#ygrp-mkp #hd {
color: #628c2a;
font-size: 85%;
font-weight: 700;
line-height: 122%;
margin: 10px 0;
}
#ygrp-mkp #ads {
margin-bottom: 10px;
}
#ygrp-mkp .ad {
padding: 0 0;
}
#ygrp-mkp .ad a {
color: #0000ff;
text-decoration: none;
}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body>
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<br><br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
David,<div><br></div><div>In addition to regular Google searches, date restricting within Google Books can help pinpoint when each spelling might have come into use. Google Books doesn't have <i>every</i> book, of course, but it is a decent dipstick to go by.</div>
<div><br></div><div><a href="http://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=%22pluff+mud%22+date:1801-1850&btnG=Search+Books">"pluff mud" date:1801-1850</a></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">This returns a single hit, from </font><span dir="ltr"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><i><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=tTvPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA136&dq=%22pluff+mud%22+date:1800-1850&ei=_f77S47nKpiUlAT4xtmmDg&cd=1" style="color: rgb(34, 0, 204); text-decoration: underline; ">Report on the geology of South Carolina</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">, 1848:</span></i></font></span></div>
<div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex; ">
It is called "pluff mud," and when dry it resembles this shale more nearly than any substance that I have seen.</blockquote><div><br></div><div><a href="http://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=%22pluff+mud%22+date:1851-1900&btnG=Search+Books">"pluff mud" date:1851-1900</a></div>
<div>This returns 20+ hits, mostly from academic journals.</div><div><br></div><div>Applying the same technique with "plough mud" the earliest instance in Google Books where it is used as a noun phrase is found in the 1898 novel <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=aKYiAAAAMAAJ&q=%22plough+mud%22+date:1801-1900&dq=%22plough+mud%22+date:1801-1900&ei=4gP8S_m2EozolQS2vLXpDQ&cd=7"><i>Simon Dale</i></a>:</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.8ex; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; padding-left: 1ex; ">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 15px; ">My stay in Norwich, if it had not made me a Londoner, </span>had rubbed off some of the plough-mud from me,</blockquote><div><br>
</div>
<div>Moving forward in time, "plough mud" between <a href="http://books.google.com/books?q=%22plough+mud%22+date:1901-1950&btnG=Search+Books">1901-1950</a> returns only two instances from later printings of the same book. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=%22plough+mud%22+date:1951-2010&btnG=Search+Books">After 1950</a> another 31 instances are found (but note that several clarify that it is pronounced "pluff"). By comparison, there are more than 200 hits for <a href="http://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=%22pluff+mud%22+date:1901-2000&btnG=Search+Books">"pluff mud" after 1950</a>.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Based on this, it would appear that "pluff mud" is the older spelling, is consistently more common in writing, and has always been the pronunciation. Why the spelling "plough mud" would have arisen, I can't say.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div>Rikker Dockum</div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 11:41 PM, David Frank <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:david_frank@sil.org">david_frank@sil.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div style="background-color:#fff">
<span> </span>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p>
</p><div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">I still don't have much to go
on. I did a Google search on "pluff mud" and I can see what it refers
to, but I still haven't run across any clues as to the origin of the term. If
you or Dick Watson have found something that particular, I would like to see it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">-- David</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<div>
<div style="border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt">
<a href="mailto:lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com" target="_blank">lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com" target="_blank">lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com</a>] <b>On
Behalf Of </b>Frantz, Donald<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, May 25, 2010 12:03 PM</span></p><div class="im"><br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com" target="_blank">lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Lexicog] plough mud</div><p></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Googling "pluff mud" seems to confirm Watson's
suggestion.</p><div class="im">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1F497D">
<hr size="2" width="100%" align="center">
</span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal">On 25-May-10, at 8:22 AM, David Frank wrote:</p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">John --</span><span style="color:#1F497D"></span></p>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;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.</span><span style="color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;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<span> </span><i>Porgy and Bess</i><span> </span>fame.</span><span style="color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;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."</span><span style="color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;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.</span><span style="color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;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.</span><span style="color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black">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."</span><span style="color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">So I have already told you
more than I know, and I will wait to see if any more insights are coming.</span><span style="color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">-- David Frank</span><span style="color:white"></span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div></div>
<p></p>
</div>
<div style="color:#fff;min-height:0"></div>
</div>
</blockquote></div><br></div>
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<br>
<br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
<div width="1" style="color: white; clear: both;"/>__._,_.___</div>
<!-- Start Recommendations -->
<!-- End Recommendations -->
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<img src="http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97476590/grpId=11682781/grpspId=1709195911/msgId=5209/stime=1274825373" width="1" height="1"> <br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<br>
<div style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 77%; border-top: 1px solid #666; padding: 5px 0;" >
Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional <br>
<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/join;_ylc=X3oDMTJnaDl0M3ZjBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzExNjgyNzgxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwOTE5NTkxMQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNzdG5ncwRzdGltZQMxMjc0ODI1Mzcz">Change settings via the Web</a> (Yahoo! ID required) <br>
Change settings via email: <a href="mailto:lexicographylist-digest@yahoogroups.com?subject=Email Delivery: Digest">Switch delivery to Daily Digest</a> | <a href = "mailto:lexicographylist-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com?subject=Change Delivery Format: Fully Featured">Switch to Fully Featured</a> <br>
<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist;_ylc=X3oDMTJlb3FxaGMyBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzExNjgyNzgxBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwOTE5NTkxMQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNocGYEc3RpbWUDMTI3NDgyNTM3Mw--">
Visit Your Group
</a> |
<a href="http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/">
Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use
</a> |
<a href="mailto:lexicographylist-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe">
Unsubscribe
</a>
<br>
</div>
<br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
<div style="color: white; clear: both;"/>__,_._,___</div>
</body>
</html>