"potato" vs. "potahto"?

[Paul A Johnston, Jr.]

I have never heard anyone, on either side of the pool, say "potahto".  Some British dialects, such as
Scots, however, have shortened forms that suggest an earlier "potatto" type--in Scotland (and
Ulster, I think), they're "tatties"--but I don't think these types crossed over here.  All I know of is
"taters" on these shores.  Potahtoes?  Nope.  Tomahto, on the other hand, is general British--they
laugh at our "tomaytoes"--and I'm sure was in use, at least by upper-class Northeasterners, in the
early 20th century, as so many Briticisms would have been.

Paul Johnston

----- Original Message -----
From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
Date: Friday, May 19, 2006 5:59 pm
Subject: Re: "potato" vs. "potahto"?

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "potato" vs. "potahto"?
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> -----------
>
> I used to say "tomahto" till I was ridiculed out of it, but I've
> never heard anyone say "potahto."  Some fifty years ago I asked my
> grandparents why they didn't say it (to be consistent with
> "tomahto"), and their response was something like, "because no one
> says 'potahto.' "
>
>  So evidently they'd never been aware of it outside of the song
> either, as far back as the 1890's.
>
>  JL
>
> "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:
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> Poster: "Arnold M. Zwicky"
> Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Re:_=A0_=A0_=A0_"potato"_vs._"potahto"=3F?=
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> -----------
>
> On May 19, 2006, at 10:24 AM, RonButters wrote:
>
> > In a message dated 5/19/06 1:12:06 PM, s-mufwene at UCHICAGO.EDU
> writes:>
> >
> >> The following sentence occurs in an article published today in the
> >> Chicago Tribune about the US Senate's vote to declare English the
> >> "national language":
> >>
> >> "We think it's basically the same thing. It's a `You say potato, I
> >> say
> >> potahto' kind of thing," said Tim Schultz, director of government
> >> relations of U.S. English Inc.
> >>
> >> I have always heard the variation about "tomato." Is there
> really a
> >> [p@'ta:to] pronunciation of "potato" too?
> >>
> >> Sali.
> >>
> >
> > You say tomato, and I say tomahto,
> > You say potato, and I say potahto--
> > Tomato, tomahto; potato, potahto--
> > Let's call the whole thing off.
> >
> > Song (Cole Porter?)
>
> yes, Cole Porter.
>
> but the "potato" part of the song was in there just to get a rhyme.
> is there any evidence of pronunciations of "potato" with [a] rather
> than [e] *before* "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off"?
>
> in fact, is there any evidence that some people now use the [a]
> pronunciation, except in an allusion to the song?
>
> for what it's worth, the OED doesn't list it.
>
> arnold
>
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