Vernification?

David Bowie db.list at PMPKN.NET
Thu Sep 16 13:28:43 UTC 2004


I received the following query from one of our composition instructors here.
Anyone heard of this word--vernification--for writing in dialect? Any ideas
where the student might have heard it? I tried Google, and I got a couple
misspellings of verification, a possible misspelling on a French page, and a
page that talked about dealing with some guy named Vern. So i figured I'd
send it to this list, since if anyone would have an idea of words for
writing in dialect, it'd be us, right?

  Re DT's prompt, I had a Comp student who recommended "vernification"
  to improve another student's essay. When I asked the meaning of
  vernification, he said it meant "writing in a dialect" (as in
  Huckleberry Finn--my example, not his).

  I wandered the department asking creative writers if they were familiar
  with the term. No takers. Martha and I looked it up in the OED. No such
  word.

David Bowie                                         http://pmpkn.net/lx
    Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
    house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
    chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.



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