Fries

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:07 PM -0400 9/14/07, Wilson Gray wrote:
>"Good bread and green cheese is good English and [supposedly] good Fries."
>
>I've read little Fries and heard even less, but it's enough to make me
>doubt the validity of this saying - or writing, since I've never heard
>anyone say it - in any of its various permutations.
>
>-Wilson

Ah, so you're calling this an old linguist's tale?  The reference,
for anyone who needs a hint, is not to either Charles C. or Peter
Fries of Michigan fame (nor to the late lamented Frieze Hall), but to
the dictum designed to prove how closely related English and Frisian
(a.k.a. Fries(e), Fris) are.  The usual web resources suggest that
the appropriate Fries spelling would be more like

Good butter en green tzieze
is good English en good Friese.

But Wilson, why would you expect anyone to say it in the normal
course of events--how often do you happen to encounter Frisian
speakers recommending or warning you off particular dairy products?

LH

>
>On 9/13/07, Dennis Preston <preston at msu.edu> wrote:
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: Fries
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  /i/
>>
>>  dInIs
>>
>>  >---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  >-----------------------
>>  >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  >Poster:       Matthew Gordon <gordonmj at MISSOURI.EDU>
>>  >Subject:      Fries
>>  >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  >
>>  >Can someone tell me how Charles Fries pronounced his last name?
>>Is it /i/ or
>>  >/ay/?
>>  >
>>  >- Matt Gordon
>>  >
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>>  >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>>  --
>>  Dennis R. Preston
>>  University Distinguished Professor
>>  Department of English
>>  Morrill Hall 15-C
>>  Michigan State University
>>  East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>--
>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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