Noah Webster at 250

[James Smith]

Last week the SL Tribune carried an article on a fire in a "slough' near Moab UT.  As always with this word, I instinctively thought "sluff", then consciously corrected myself to "slew".

James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.


--- On Thu, 10/23/08, Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET> wrote:

> From: Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
> Subject: Re: Noah Webster at 250
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date: Thursday, October 23, 2008, 1:34 PM
> 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:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society
> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson"
> <douglas at NB.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Noah Webster at 250
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Wilson Gray wrote:
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society
> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:      Re: Noah Webster at 250
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> 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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>
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