"Drouth"

[Wilson Gray]

For a very long time - from the time that I first came across the
article in childhood into early adulthood - I heard and used
"chace-lounge" as the pronunciation. (I've still never had occasion to
write out the word in its correct spelling, so my pronunciation has
never been influenced by being consciously aware of the spelling.)
When I, by chance, came across the history of the word, I was taken by
surprise, to say the least. Among BE-speakers, I still say
"chace-lounge," that being the BE "standard," as it were. Among
WE-speakers, I've found the pronunciation to be so varied that I
simply avoid using the word.

-Wilson

On 11/7/07, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Drouth"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 4:22 PM -0500 11/7/07, Charles Doyle wrote:
> >Perhaps loan words and falsely-etymologized expressions constitute
> >special categories. Does the pronunciation of "chaise-longue" as
> >"chaise-lounge" (usually called, simply, a "folk etymology") result
> >from a misspelling of the word in the mind's eye (with the "n" and
> >the "u" transposed)?
> >
> >--Charlie
>
> I've seen it referred to (and refer to it in class handouts myself)
> as an orthographically induced folk etymology, as opposed to the
> usual phonetically/phonologically induced ones.
>
> LH
>
> >_____________________________________________________________
>
> >
> >---- Original message ----
> >>Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 15:51:25 -0400
> >>From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> >
> >>At 3:19 PM -0500 11/7/07, Charles Doyle wrote:
> >
> >>>I believe Larry is speaking historically: Until the 16th century,
> >>>"autor" or "autour" was the normal spelling, presumably
> >>>representing the standard English pronunciation. Sometime in the
> >>>15th century, Frenchmen started spelling the word "authour," which
> >>>would (probably) represent the same pronunciation as "autour."
> >>>However, when the French (mis?-)spelling "authour" made its way to
> >>>England, Englishmen began pronouncing the word with an
> >>>unhistorical [T] or theta.
> >>
> >>exactly
> >
> >>
> >>>Similarly with the proper name "Anthony" . . .
> >>
> >
> >>with the added fillip (as oppose to Phillip) that it was evidently
> >>assumed that the name derived from the Greek "anthos" 'flower', as
> >>in "anthology"--but not as in "Ant(h)ony".
> >>
> >>Larry
> >
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>
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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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