Trivial note on pronunciation: forehead

[Wilson Gray]

Exactly. That's where I learned the pronunciation in the first place.
Needless to say, we're not the only two people in the English-speaking
world who learned this rhyme as children. Nevertheless, after people
learn how to read, many of them switch to the spelling- pronunciation.
And, if a peron grows up in a 4head-speaking family, it may very well
be the case that, for such a person, "forrid" does not have a
real-world referent.

I once discussed this with a 4head-speaker. She argued that "4head'
has always been the proper pronunciation. The pronunciation "forrid"
is merely a distortion necessary to make "forehead" rhyme with
"horrid."

Well, that's a reanalysis of the history of the pronunciations that's
impossible to refute in a casual conversation.

-Wilson

On Wed, Aug 5, 2009 at 9:49 PM, Dave Hause<dwhause at jobe.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Hause <dwhause at JOBE.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Trivial note on pronunciation: forehead
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Why, it must, for the rhyme to work:
<
> There was a little girl
> Who had a little curl
> Right in the middle of her forehead.
> And when she was good,
> She was very, very good
> And when she was bad she was horrid.
>
> Dave Hause, dwhause at jobe.net
> Waynesville, MO
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2009 8:19 PM
> Subject: Trivial note on pronunciation: forehead
>
>
> I notice that "Ducky" (David McCallum) of NCIS properly :-) rhymes
> "forehead" with "horrid." Of course, he's even older, by four years,
> than I am.
> --
> -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
>



--
-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

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