Just wondering (re: "busghetti")

[Jonathan Lighter]

...the idea being that since "flutterby" makes superficial sense (which "butterfly" does not), and since the two resemble each other phonetically, the utterly factitious "flutterby" is self-evidently the "original" (and some would go on to say "correct") term.

  It would be hard to find a better ex. of the radical faith that English was once more transparently meaningful than today. In this case, you don't even need the existence of an actual "flutterby, n.," regardless of era !

  Horror movie for linguists: "We Saved Isidore's Brain !"

  Re "busghetti," etc., it would seem to go back to the '60s :

  1997 http://groups.google.com/group/sci.med.transcription/browse_frm/thread/cb448b156c3f3b84/0242f52dde547a2e?lnk=st&q=pisgetti&rnum=5#0242f52dde547a2e : My very intelligent son who is 37 years old still eats "hangerbers" and "pisgetti"
Go figure!!!!

  Google Books assures us that "pisgetti" appears in Corinne Jacker's 1975 play, _Bits and Pieces_, but you have to go to the library to find out for sure.  The earliest Usenet "pisketti" is from 2000, with "pasketti" in the same thread.

"Pasghetti" shows up in 1991 and seems, logically, to be the favorite spelling. "Pasgetti" is also frequent.

  I haven't heard of "hangerbers" before, but there are a handful online.

  JL

Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Laurence Horn
Subject: Re: Just wondering (re: "busghetti")
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At 6:15 AM -0800 1/2/07, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Is "flutterby" a functioning "word" or just the pleasant result of
>paranomasia ? I remember it from childhood, but only as a curiosity.

--one that's alive and well in the realms of etymythology; a
commercial currently airing on NYC radio (at least on WFAN) informs
us in their passel of "Did you know?" tidbits that "butterfly" was
originally "flutterby"

LH

>
> OED doesn't have it.
>
> JL
>
>Charles Doyle wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Charles Doyle
>Subject: Re: Just wondering (re: "busghetti")
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>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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