Noah Webster at 250

[Benjamin Barrett]

On Oct 21, 2008, at 9:56 PM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Noah Webster at 250
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> Wilson Gray wrote:
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>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Noah Webster at 250
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>>
>> Dennis Baron writes:
>>
>> "...plow, not plough ..."
>>
>> Back in the 'Forties, there was a soap-operatic, cartoon-serial
>> entitled _The Gumps_. One day, the Gumps were expecting as dinner
>> guest an English gentleman named "Plough." Confusion reigned as to
>> how
>> this name might be pronounced, so that introductions would not pose
>> an
>> embarrassing problem. Various solutions were proposed. I went with
>> "Pluff," myself. It seemed obvious.
>>
>> When Mr. Plough arrived and was forced to explain to his American
>> hosts that his name was pronounced "Plow," exactly as spelled,
>> millions of Americans, including your humble correspondent, were
>> taken
>> completely by surprise. My WAG is that not ten percent of the strip's
>> readers had any idea as to what what the point of this was. I didn't
>> even believe that "Plough" could be pronounced "Plow." Hence, I had
>> not the slightest idea WTF the strip's point was, until perhaps a
>> dekkid later.
> -
>
> Here ...
>
> http://www.sff.net/people/Brenda/
>
> ... is a science-fiction author named "Clough", whose books I read
> years
> ago. (Perhaps like some kindred spirits subscribing to this list?)
> Back
> when, I would have had no idea how to pronounce the surname. Now,
> thanks
> to the Internet, I am apprised of the 'correct' pronunciation, "cluff"
> (hope it's not another Internet lie). Some others with the same name
> orthographically are called "clow", I think.
>
>
I once knew a Mainer with that name who pronounced it cluff. BB

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