Another nursery rhyme

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 21, 2004, at 1:45 AM, Dan Goodman wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goodman <dsgood at VISI.COM>
> Subject:      Another nursery rhyme
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> --------
>
> How long is it since this rhymed in "correct" speech in either the US
> or
> the UK?
>
> Polly put the kettle on,
> Polly put the kettle on,
> Polly put the kettle on,
> They've all come to tea.
>
> Polly take the kettle off,
> Polly take the kettle off,
> Polly take the kettle off,
> They've all gone away.
>
> --
> Dan Goodman
> Journal http://www.livejournal.com/users/dsgood/ or
> http://dsgood.blogspot.com
> All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.
> John Arbuthnot (1667-1735), Scottish writer, physician.

Well, I guess the fact that "tea" once rhymed with "(a)way" explains
why the Irish word for "tea" is "tae" (approx. "tay") and not "taoi"
(approx. "tee").

-Wilson Gray
>