[Ads-l] Higgly-piggly

[Laurence Horn]

Aha.  I knew there was something that deedn't sit right about those "diddles"; "deedle" it was (for me) with respect to my trousered son John. Interference from "Hey diddle diddle/The cat and the fiddle", perhaps?

LH  

On Dec 15, 2014, at 12:44 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> At 12/15/2014 10:35 AM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) wrote:
> [I had written]
>>> 
>>>> Diddle diddle dumping, my son ...
>>> 
>>> I think it's "Diddle diddle *dumpling*, my son ...".  But perhaps
>>> "dumping" is your reason for censoring the scatological remainder?
>>> (And remember, the son is "John"! and he went to bed with his trousers
>>> on; was there an accident?)
>>> 
>> 
>> I learned it as "deedle deedle dumpling"
> 
> My comment, of course, was about "dumping" vs. "dumpling", not "diddle" vs. "deedle".  I too learned the latter.  But have some tolerance for the "ih"/"ee" mergers.  :-)
> 
> Joel
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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