Why

[sagehen]

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu) writes:

>dInIs, about interrogative WHY (voiceless initial) vs. exclamatory WHY
>(voiced initial):
> >widepread among the few surviving wh/w distinguishers. I have
> >the same rule.
>
>this comes up every few years.  i have the same distinction, and
>have observed it in many other wh/w distinguishers.
>
>i believe that, for me, WHOA and exclamatory WHY are the only
>words spelled with initial <wh> that have only voiced initials.
>
>arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)
~~~~~~~
...and then there's the Flanders & Swann song, "I'm a Gnu"  with the
line:"You really ought to k at -now  w at -ho's w at -ho."
A. Murie