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

[Jonathan Lighter]

>From "Sleepy Hollow" (Fox-TV) last month:

American Revolution-Themed Restaurant Host:  "Welcome to Ye Olde Colonial
Times! Have thou dinest with us before?"

Ichabod Crane: "Why are you talking like that?"

Host: "It be how we spoketh in days of yore."

Ichabod Crane: "If you were wounded in the head, perhaps!"

JL

On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 9:51 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- 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: "Oh, Brother, _Were_ Art Thou"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > On Nov 3, 2015, at 3:07 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >=20
> > 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? =20
>
> 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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>



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