Noah Webster at 250

[Alison Murie]

Someone asked if the 'graduates'  were sworn to secrecy or if older
sibs didn't spill the beans........my three-years-older brother had
also had Mrs. Stough & no doubt had told me, which makes my inability
to remember just that much more odd.  But, of course, it was a good
lesson in the peculiarities of our spelling conventions.
AM
On Oct 25, 2008, at 1:49 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Noah Webster at 250
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> Stoughton in Massachusetts is "Stohton."
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 3:34 PM, Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at att.net>
> wrote:
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>> Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
>> Subject:      Re: Noah Webster at 250
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>>
>> I had a teacher in third grade, back before  WWII, whose name was
>> Stough.  She used to challenge incoming classes to decide how to
>> pronounce her name..  Was it "Stuff" as in enough; was it "Stup" as
>> in
>> hiccough; was it "Stoff" as in cough; was it "Stew" as in through;
>> was
>> it like plough, &c.?   Oddly enough, instead of making me remember
>> what the answer was, I'm not sure, nearly seventy years later.  I
>> *think* it turned out to be "Stoh" like stowaway. (Can't think of
>> another analog.)
>> AM
>> On Oct 22, 2008, at 12:56 AM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>>
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>>> 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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>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> 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.
>>>
>>> -- Doug Wilson
>>>
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>
>
> --
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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> -----
> -Mark Twain
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