Just wondering (re: "busghetti")

[Jonathan Lighter]

Is "flutterby" a functioning "word" or just the pleasant result of paranomasia ?  I remember it from childhood, but only as a curiosity.

  OED doesn't have it.

  JL

Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Charles Doyle
Subject: Re: Just wondering (re: "busghetti")
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The common juvenile metathesis "flutterby" for "butterfly" would seem to result from an etymological assumption. "Busghetti," though, appears to reflect some phonological difficulty with the consonant cluster?

My (barely) 2-year-old grandson is afraid of [neks]. I can't decide whether he fails to hear the initial /s/ or is just unable to articulate it.

--Charlie
___________________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2007 21:01:23 -0600
>From: Victoria Neufeldt
>Subject: Re: Just wondering (re: "busghetti")
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

>
>The fact that there are so many children who say something like this (and
>have been doing so for at least the last 20 years) has made me wonder if it
>might not be something they pick up in school, or even as early as
>daycare -- perhaps it's used in a story they hear, or a song. I haven't
>asked any teachers about this -- just an idle thought. But when you hear
>them say it, it's still as cute as it ever was! I am now resisting adding
>other interesting childish versions of words and expressions.
>
>Victoria
>
>Victoria Neufeldt
>Editor, DSNA Newsletter
>727 9th Street East
>Saskatoon, Sask.
>S7H 0M6
>Canada
>Tel: (306) 955-8910
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Jonathan Lighter"
>To:
>Sent: Monday, January 01, 2007 6:37 PM
>Subject: Re: Just wondering
>
>
>>
>> I know a seven-year old who always says "busghetti."
>>
>> JL

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