Subject: Re: yonder - English or Irish?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 6/21/2008 12:30 PM, JAMES A. LANDAU Netscape. Just the Net You Need. wrote:
>On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:05:34 Zulu minus 4 "Joel S. Berson"
>Berson at ATT.NET wrote:
>
><quote> ...
>Which leads me to wonder (rhymes with yonder):  Josh Macfelder seems
>to have assumed the song relates to a war on the continent.  Why not
>overseas?  Or why not a civil war in England?
>
>However, I [meaning Joel] have the same view as James about the
>sword:  an ordinary
>soldier in the 18th century would likely not be armed with one
>(unless he were Persian, Indian, perhaps Turkish, etc.).
></quote>
>
>...
>
>I [meaning James] said that the song dated from when BOTH spinning
>wheels and swords were in use.  Yes, swords became obsolete first,
>but that merely made the spinning wheels irrelevant to the dating.

True, and is how I should have put it.

>I think you meant "ponder" rather than "wonder" as the latter does
>not rhyme with "yonder", at least not in my speech.

Gee, can't I have word play on more than two words?  I was also
"wander"-ing from my real tasks.  (Disclaimer: I do distinguish
"wander" from "wonder".)

>As for why Josh Macfelder attached the song to a war on the
>Continent against the French, I would guess that the song included
>words about going to France to fight the French.

Yes, as he told the other list, and Google search for the words also
reveals.  The info about Irish supporters of James II going to France
circa 1691 seems definitive.

Joel

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