A nursery rhyme

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 20, 2004, at 11:02 AM, sagehen wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Re: A nursery rhyme
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>> There was a little girl
>> And she had a little curl
>> Right in the middle of her forehead.
>> When she was good, she was very, very good.
>> But when she was bad, she was horehead?/hoarhead?/whorehead? ...?
>>
>> -Wilson Gray
> ~~~~~~~~
> Horrid.
> AM
>

Works for me, but not for our all-too-numerous language compatriots who
say "fore head" and not "forrid"? To my despair, I've found that some
of these speakers don't even realize that there was ever even supposed
to be a rhyme. I've found the same reaction among Canadians who've
learned the Alphabet Song and sing "w, x, y, and zed": just a vague
feeling that something may be wrong, though they "know" that their
usage is "correct," just as I "know" that their usage is "incorrect."
Well, I give Canadians the benefit of the doubt. But, what can you do?
One of my best friends - only a decade-and-a-half younger than I -
refuses to believe that "CaribBEan" was ever the standard
American-English pronunciation of "CaRIbbean."  It's just too bad for
me that English didn't cease to evolve after May 1, 1954, when I
completed what was essentially a twelve-year course in "Standard"
English as a Second Dialect.

Hmm. It's just occurred to me that my position is quite hypocritical,
given that I myself have never been persuaded that there's any need to
distinguish E from I in the environment before a nasal consonant.
Context is sufficient to distinguish, e.g. "10 cans" from "tin cans."

As Anna Rosannadanna used to say, "Never mind."

-Wilson Gray