"Duchy" vs."dukedom"

[Wilson Gray]

True that. But, IMO, "dook-dum" strikes the untutored ear that it was
meant for more pleasantly than "duh-chee" does. But it's clearly the
case that it's more transparent than "duchy" for the song's intended
audience. Indeed, it's the primary reason that, for so many years, I
labored under the misprepprehension that "dukedom" was a word made up
by the song's lyricist.

As for how it came to pass that I had never heard or read the word
"dukedom" before the release of Duke of Earl, I haven't the slightest.

-Wilson

On Sun, Aug 24, 2008 at 6:36 PM, 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: "Duchy" vs."dukedom"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 5:11 PM -0400 8/24/08, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>Oddly, the first time that I ever came across the word, "dukedom," it
>>was in the old R&B song, Duke of Earl. Since that time, I've assumed
>>that the word was made up up for the purpose of matching the
>>rhythm/rhyme of the song: duke-dom vs. duchy.
>
> Actually, "duchy" would have fit the meter equally well (as opposed
> to, say, "bishopric", in the abandoned draft version, "I'm the Bishop
> of Pope"), and "dukedom" doesn't rhyme with anything in the song.  I
> think it's just more transparent than "duchy".
>
> LH
>
>>Because I've since come
>>across the term from time to time in many other environments over the
>>years, I've finally been moved to look the word up. I now know that
>>the word has been in use since Middle English.
>>
>>You never know.
>>
>>-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.
>>-----
>>-Mark Twain
>>
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>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> 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.
-----
-Mark Twain

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org