I say "Lusitan-i-ay"

[Wilson Gray]

Wel, there's the town of Mundy, in South Texas, down near the RYE-o Grand.

-Wilson

On 12/14/06, Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at ohio.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: I say "Lusitan-i-ay"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> And do we know that "Sunday" was not pronounced [s^ndi] by 1746?  Is there
> evidence of variant spelling of the days as "Sundy," "Mondy," etc.?
>
> At 10:58 AM 12/14/2006, you wrote:
> >FWIW: For the ejaculatory first-cousin of "lackaday"--"welladay"--the OED
> >attests "welady" (1592) and "welody" (1652, where it rhymes with "melody")
> >as variant spellings.
> >
> >--Charlie
> >___________________________________________________
> >
> >---- Original message ----
> > >Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 06:30:32 -0800
> > >From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> > >Subject: Re: I say "Lusitan-i-ay"
> > >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > >
> > >
> > >There's no historical justiification AFAIK for / I / in the syllable
> > -day.  / i  / seems unlikely for 1746. "Canada" could have / i / in
> > theory, but the probably wouldn't rhyme.And since "Lusitania" in the
> > Arnold poem has to have [ e ] or something close to it to rhyme,
> > >  / 'kAn at di / would be irrelevant to it and just make everything murkier
> > and more complicated.
> > >
> > >  Than usual.
> > >
> > >  JL
> > >
> > >
> > >Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
> > >
> > >Unless "lackaday" and "Canada" were both pronounced with final /i/ or
> > /I/, like "holiday" in some dialects and "Sunday" (etc.) in most?
> > >
> > >--Charlie
> > >__________________________________________
> > >
> > >---- Original message ----
> > >>Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 14:58:46 -0800
> > >>From: Jonathan Lighter
> > >>Subject: Re: I say "Lusitan-i-ay"
> > >>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>Here's a nearly parallel case from the mid 18th C.
> > >>
> > >> Lucy Terry Prince (1730-1821) is known as "America's first black
> > poet"; she was of the generation just preceding the better known Phyllis
> > Wheatley (1753-84). Her only known poem, written when she was fifteen or
> > sixteen (and praised by a recent critic for its "radical use of direct
> > speech") memorializes the victims of an Indian raid near Deerfield,
> > Mass., in 1746. It comprises four eight-line rhyming stanzas. The final
> > stanza is as follows:
> > >>
> > >> And had not her petticoats stopped her,
> > >> The awful creatures had not catched her,
> > >> Nor tommy hawked her on the head,
> > >> And left her on the ground for dead.
> > >> Young Samuel Allen, Oh lackaday!
> > >> Was taken and carried to Canada.
> > >>
> > >> Though "stopped / catched" (most likely /kaCt/) prevents the argument
> > from being quite airtight, surely /e/ is the pronunciation intended.
> > >>
> > >> JL
> >
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>
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens

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