diphthong

[Laurence Horn]

Erin McKean writes:

>I think it can be explained by the fact that "dipthong" is one of the
>funniest-sounding words in English. I'd bet that it would get a laugh in
>any fourth-grade classroom in the country.
>
>Erin McKean
>editor at verbatimmag.com

Not to be a prescriptivist about it,  but I've always spelled it with a
-ph- (as below) and pronounced that -ph- as an [f].  This makes it somewhat
less funny-sounding, I fear, and also less likely to serve as a plausible
euphemism for 'dipshit'.  Perhaps the processing of it as "dipthong" is the
first step on the route Lynne cites below.

larry


>
>>Spotted today on a salon.com article on the Miss Universe pageant by
>>Cintra Wilson:
>>
>>It was hosted by loudmouthed diphthong Sinbad.
>>
>>I take it that 'diphthong' is an alliterative alternative to 'dipshit',
>>but trying to work out the metaphor here is a bit brain-bending.
>>
>>Lynne
>>
>>Dr M Lynne Murphy
>>Lecturer in Linguistics
>>School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
>>University of Sussex
>>Brighton BN1 9QH
>>UK
>>
>>phone +44-(0)1273-678844
>>fax   +44-(0)1273-671320