I say...Lusitani-ay

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW, "Ioway" is the usual pronunciation of Iowa used in BE (and in
other Southern-based dialects?). There is or once was a U. of Iowa
fight song, "We're Men of Ioway," sung to the tune of "Didn't He
Ramble?"

-Wilson

On 10/7/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      I say...Lusitani-ay
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Big breakthrough - or red herring ?
>
>   1948 Vance Randolph _Ozark Folksongs_ (Columbia. Mo.: Missouri State Historical Society) 283:
>
>   Professor A. W. Breeden, Manhattan, Kan., Apr. 12, 1935, sings...this piece, which he learned in Stone County, Mo., in the early 90's.
>
>   Oh the Ioway First are the boys they fear the worst,
>   And on the Johnny Rebs we are gainin'.
>
>   Moreover,
>
>   1904 Owen Wister, in Jim Bob Tinsley _He Was Singin' This Song_ (Orlando, Fla.: U. Presses of Florida, 1981) 88: A son-of-a-gun from Ioway.
>
>   The element of doubt here is that the state of Iowa was named for the Ioway [sic] Indians, and this particular pronuciation may reflect that.
>
>   JL
>
>
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--
Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is knows how deep
a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our
race. He brought death into the world.

--Sam Clemens

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