[Ads-l] "goal" or "gaol"?

[George Thompson]

Benjamin Barrett asked me: Is “goal” an auto-correct for “gaol”?
 (referring to "This Morning an Indian Wench was committed to Goal" in my
post of earlier today)

No.  The 18th C NYC newspapers were strangely inconsistent in spelling
"gaol" -- it was at least equally likely to be "goal" -- perhaps even more
likely.

I can see "gaol" as representing the same sound as "jail" -- how "goal"
gets in, I can't figure.  Perhaps they had a mental auto-correct?

GAT

-- 
George A. Thompson
The Guy Who Still Looks Stuff Up in Books.
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998..

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