reputably = "reputedly"

[Dennis Preston]

"Supposebly" looks like a modification triggered by the maximum onset
monster to me. /dl/ is not a permissible onset (in English) but /bl/
is.

dInIs



>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: reputably = "reputedly"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>It strikes me as being a mispronunciation in BE. "Presumably" is not
>in common use and probably is usually pronunced "prolly." For me,
>anyway, "supposably" is easier to say than "supposedly," so I use
>"supposably" when speaking to other MOT's.
>
>Around the time that I learned MOT (member of the tribe), I also heard
>(or read in Mario Pei?) that it was originally a bit of Jewish slang
>meaning, "member of the tribe (of Judah}," misunderstood or
>re-analyzed by blacks as meaning "(descended from some unknown) member
>of a tribe (in Africa)." Any truth to that, does anyone know or care?
>
>-Wilson
>
>On 8/7/07, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at umr.edu> wrote:
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: reputably = "reputedly"
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  Ah, another lexical blend ("supposedly" + "presumably").
>>  =20
>>  Gerald Cohen
>>
>>  ________________________________
>>
>>  From Jonathan Lighter, Tue 8/7/2007 12:23 PM, Subject: reputably =3D =
>>  "reputedly"
>>
>>
>>
>>  Cf. "supposably":
>>
>>   <snip>
>>
>>
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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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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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