How to say "either" and "neither"

[Jonathan Lighter]

They had no choice: George was speaking the King's English.

JL


On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 1:32 PM, Benjamin Torbert <btorbert at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Torbert <btorbert at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: How to say "either" and "neither"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I was told a story when I was in grade school by my English teacher, I
> forget which one, about the genesis of /ai/-ther.  It's almost certainly
> apocryphal, but I find it interesting nonetheless.  She said that it had
> been /i/-ther for centuries, but when the Hanover kings came to England, so
> I guess like starting with George I, they were German speakers and
> interpreted as /ai/-ther and then everyone copied them.  The reason I find
> this tale interesting is that there's a similar, almost certainly
> apocryphal story about the prevalence of /theta/ in Castillian Spanish,
> where everybody started copying a king.
>
> BT
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 6:34 AM, Barbara Need <bhneed at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Barbara Need <bhneed at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: How to say "either" and "neither"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > And in eighth grade, in Andover, MA (a long time ago), I used the "UK"
> > pronunciation and was called on it by a classmate=97and I replied, "You
> > can pronounce it [ai]ther way." I have not tracked my use over the
> > years, but I suspect the UK pronunciation predominates, but I might,
> > sometimes, use the "US" one. Language varies; that is what makes it
> > interesting.
> >
> > Barbara
> > Etna
> >
> > On 22 Apr 2013, at 6:36 AM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: How to say "either" and "neither"
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> > >
> > > Interestingly, thefreedictionary.com has the word "either" spoken in
> > > US as ~eether and in UK as EYE-ther ~iether (~ie as in "tie").  I
> > > noticed that Rachael Maddow who was raised in California says
> > > ~iether.  But she got her political science doctorate at Oxford,
> > > where it would be ~iether.
> > >
> > > I think prez Obama says ~iether as well.
> > >
> > > I wonder what "unnatural" sounds like.
> > http://www.manythings.org/audio/sentences/256.html
> > >
> > > Interesting "dialect blog" site   http://dialectblog.com/
> > >
> > >
> > > Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, Tenn 3, NJ 33, now Fl 9.
> > > See how English spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >>
> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> -----------------------
> > >> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> Poster: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > >> Subject: Re: How to say "either" and "neither"
> > >>
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> > >>
> > >> On Apr 21, 2013, at 11:06 PM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> Several times on TV news for "either" I've been hearing EYE-ther
> > >>> instead of EE-ther which is what the dictionaries say is US accent
> > >>> and what I'm used to. Is someone promoting EYE-ther. Perhaps UK.
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >> I'd say invest in some new dictionaries. The ones I have list both
> > >> pronunciations; either seems natural to me. The /i/ pronunciation
> > >> is more frequent in the U.S. to be sure, but variation doesn't mean
> > >> a plot, or even a promotion campaign. Maybe, as the song suggests,
> > >> you could call the whole thing off.
> > >>
> > >> LH
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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