Spelling errors as a reflection of non-standard speech

[Wilson Gray]

Do you remember Li'l Abner, the old comic strip by Al Capp? This strip
occasionally featured the adventures of two aristocratic English
families, one named "Chalmondelay," pronounced "Chumley," and the other
named "Chumley," pronounced "Chalmondelay."

According to the late Mario Pei's The Story of Language, it's also the
case that the English pronounce "Mainwaring" as "Mannering" and
pronounce "Featherstonehaugh" as "Fanshaw."

Of course, Pei was expecting to be taken seriously, whereas Capp was
just joking.

-Wilson Gray

On Jul 23, 2004, at 5:45 PM, Page Stephens wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Page Stephens <hpst at EARTHLINK.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Spelling errors as a reflection of non-standard
> speech
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Names are not always what they seem. The common Welsh name BZJXXLLWCP
> is
> pronounced Jackson.
>
> Mark Twain
>