[Ads-l] "Oh, Brother, _Were_ Art Thou"

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Tue Nov 3 14:51:14 UTC 2015


> On Nov 3, 2015, at 3:07 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> This instance of "where" misspelled as "were" in a Facebook comment is only
> one of many instances that I've seen of the loss of the _h_ from _where_ in
> writing as well as in pronunciation, though "were" isn't as common as
> "ware" or "wear," needless to say.

Maybe some copular assimilation involved?  

I actually bristle more at the overgeneralization of -eth and -est verb endings ("My cup runnethed over", "Pride goest before a fall", etc.).  I'm sure y'all have your own examples.


LH
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