"old wise tale"/"old wives tell"

[Herb Stahlke]

"Old wives tell" sounds like a Southern variety that laxes tense vowels
before /l/.


On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 12:30 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "old wise tale"/"old wives tell"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sun, Feb 16, 2014 at 4:50 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
> >wrote:
>
> > FWIW, the egg corn database includes hits for "old wise tale", "old wise
> > tail", and even "wise tale" without the old.
>
>
> But not "old wives tell," apparently. "Old wise tail" is interesting for
> its unintentional(?) double-entendre. Since I've never seen or heard simply
> "wives' tale" where I'd expect "old wives' tale," or ever, I'm not sure
> about that one. But...
>
> Youneverknow.
>
> Also, heard:
>
> "They treated me like a bald-headed stepchild."
>
>
> --
> -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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