Another one bites the dust?

Baker, John JMB at STRADLEY.COM
Fri Sep 7 02:17:44 UTC 2007


        It's harder than you're letting on.  If I say, "Here is where we
will have the dinner for the uh LUM nye," do I mean the Harvard alumni
(anglicized pronunciation) or the Radcliffe alumnae (Latin
pronunciation)?  Similarly, if I say, "The after-dinner program for the
uh LUM nee will be in the other room," do I mean the Radcliffe alumnae
(anglicized pronunciation) or the Harvard alumni (Latin pronunciation)?


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Wilson Gray
Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 10:03 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Another one bites the dust?

Well, you'd think that, if a random graduate of an academic backwater
- as it was once described by a UC Berkeley alumna with whom I foolishly
tried to commiserate after she whined, as so many bleepheads do, "Well,
that's not the way they do it where I come from!" - like UC Davis can
learn the distinctions, you'd think that any random Harvard grad could
also learn them, motivated by nothing more than idle curiosity.

-Wilson

On 9/6/07, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
-----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Another one bites the dust?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
>         I think the avoidance of the masc./fem./plural issue is quite
> conscious.  I recall that at my own alma mater there was a certain
> amount of chagrin that the respective Latin and English pronunciations

> of alumni and alumnae are homophones, as are their respective English
> and Latin pronunciations.  It sounds confusing even to describe the
> problem.
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Beverly Flanigan
> Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 1:12 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Another one bites the dust?
>
> The growing favorite seems to be "alum," with the plural "alums."
> This avoids the masc./fem./plural issue, though probably not
consciously.

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