William Safire on the kitchen sink

[Tom Zurinskas]

How do you pronounce "Mohicans"?  I've seen it spelled "Mohegans".


Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at authorhouse.com.

> Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:51:33 -0400
> From: hwgray at GMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: William Safire on the kitchen sink
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: William Safire on the kitchen sink
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In Wisconsin, is every sink called a "zinc" (or "zink") or just the
> kitchen "zinc"? If it's the former, I'd tend to believe the "Dutch
> ancestry" explanation. Otherwise, I have no clue, since the closest
> that I've been to Wisconsin is "That '70's Show" ("Hello,
> Wisconsin!"). My father went to Madison, but that experience had no
> particular impact on his "Alabama brogue," as he termed his native
> dialect.
>
> My grandmother was the last of the dialect Mohicans, since the "zinc"
> pronunciation died with her. All living members of my family say
> "(kitchen) sink," including my 97-y.o mother, a daughter of said
> grandmother.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 2:56 PM, Joseph Salmons  wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Joseph Salmons
>> Subject: Re: William Safire on the kitchen sink
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Interesting. I don't recall that pronunciation from the south or
>> Texas, but the z-ful pronunciation of 'sink' is well known in
>> Wisconsin, where it's popularly associated with people of Dutch
>> ancestry. (I have no evidence on whether that's true or to what extent
>> it might be.)
>>
>> Joe
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mar 30, 2008, at 1:47 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>>> Poster: Wilson Gray
>>> Subject: William Safire on the kitchen sink
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> In his article on the kitchen sink in today's NYT Mag, Safire notes
>>> that the kitchen sink was once an object made of a "sheet of _zinc_
>>> over wood ..."
>>>
>>> Perhaps this is the reason that my late, East-Texas-born grandmother
>>> always referred to our kitchen sink, which differed in no way from the
>>> usual enameled kitchen sink standard in houses built back in the day,
>>> as "the _zinc_," though she referred to the bathroom sink only as "the
>>> _sink_."
>>>
>>> -Wilson
>>>
>>> --
>>> 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
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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