[Ads-l] New to me: _woo-woo sauce_ "Worcestershire sauce"

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Thu Sep 10 16:03:51 UTC 2015


> On Sep 10, 2015, at 8:16 AM, Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM> wrote:
> 
> New to me as well. Note the (incorrect) -ch- spelling which suggests how this writer pronounces it and that this writer is NOT from/in New England. (I believe the MD county by the same name uses the rhotic and -ch- pronunciation.)
> 
> We do use "Woo" as a cutback nickname for Worcester, MA. Note the change from the "-uh-" short vowel in the full name to the long "-oo-" in the nickname. The city has a cultural sites card called "the Woo card." The nickname for Worcester State U is "Woo State". And there's a place in town that calls itself "The Woo".

Better, I guess, than the "Wuss", or "Wuss State".

LH
> 
> I find the reduplication in the sauce nickname interesting if not cutesy.
> 
> And I think I've exhausted the limited store of  linguistic analysis and terminology that I can bring to bear on this topic.
> 
> ---Amy West
> Worcester, MA
> 
> On 9/10/15 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
>> Date:    Wed, 9 Sep 2015 15:51:11 -0400
>> From:    Wilson Gray<hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: New to me:_woo-woo sauce_  "Worcestershire sauce"
>> 
>> Question about marinating steak in Worstershire
>> forum.lowcarber.org › ... › Newbies' Questions
>> Jan 21, 2004 - 11 posts - ‎5 authors
>> Worchester or "WOO-WOO" Sauce as I call it does not have a lot of carbs in
>> it.
>> 
>> 241 raw hits
>> -- -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
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=OYZ1MInp8slK6PsTM7TqgxPP6t9pyZhKVyWOepKtUEk&s=Vq89kMJLSUm3-KMps7ES8mLCtjFmj7aIHWacXh1rD4Q&e= 

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list