A small problem with today's word [gerrymander], the pronunciation given was wrong !
Many people think it has a 'soft' G initial consonant, Elbridge Gerry was from Marblehead MA and back when he was around he pronounced his name with a 'HARD' G !

this from an old New Englander and friend of one of old Eldrige's great great ??? Grandsons

Lou

>Many people think it has a 'soft' G initial consonant.

including the folks at Merriam-Webster, although they note the alternate pronunciation and that the "G" in the surname "Gerry" is pronounced g.

And once again proof the guy behind the curtain does not read AWADtalk.
There had been a dozen posts here about this word .

welcome, lgeoffrion! and thanks for this - I hadn't known it myself....(Apparently the man behind the curtain ain't the only one who missed that discussion, Uncle Bill!)

I have pretty much always heard that, although the name of the eponymous Gerry was pronounced with a hard G, the word that derives from his name was pronounced with a soft G. Certainly that's the only way I've ever heard it pronounced. These things happen.

These things happen.

They do indeed....But now I'm trying to think of another instance, and can't. It's driving me crazy........HELP!

now I'm trying to think of another instance, and can't. It's driving me crazy........HELP!

...does the name "Flat Foot Floogee" ring any bells? ;-)

no

Bingley

I'll CT another instance:

the Bee Gees - the brothers Gibb

maybe slightly different-like, but there you go.

I'll CT another instance:

Is that Carpal Tunnel or Counter Tenor (or both, or neither)?

I didn't necessarily mean that hard Gs are turning into soft Gs all the time. Just that things start off one way and get perverted, sometimes almost immediately. An example of that might be the phrase "no love lost between them." I am told, but have never verified, that the original context of the phrase told of a love so pure and directed that none was lost on the way from one lover to the other. It is now universally used to mean that the two people involved have no love at all for each other.

In reply to:

---

I didn't necessarily mean that hard Gs are turning into soft Gs all the time. Just that things start off one
way and get perverted, sometimes almost immediately.

---

That's what I took your comment to mean, Faldage. I wasn't hoping for more examples of gees changing their hardness or softness - more of other examples of pronunciations in general changing, owing to a mispronunciation becoming current. I just cain't think of any examples myself at the moment.

Sorta like Cholmondely being pronounced "Chumly" - only not like that, since I don't know if that was a mispronunciation (how could it be? but it's a confusing name!) in the first place. Only other thing that springs to mind is "glacier," which Brits and Antipodeans pronounce with a short "a" and North Americans pronounce with a long "a."

But not really like that, either....

Ah, sod. I know what I mean and Faldage knows what I mean. I just cain't think of an example. Wish I could....

...does the name "Flat Foot Floogee" ring any bells? ;-)

no


For a bell-ringer take a look at the thread that began with
http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=39744
from September 2001

Is that Carpal Tunnel or Counter Tenor (or both, or neither)?

Cross-Thread

Re: wofa's cited thread: here's something from it that definitely sounds odd, out of context: You're right, of course, about hard geese and soft Jeep. And--augh, I HATE threaded mode! I was looking for one post in particular, and in threaded you just have to click all over the place at random... How can you threadnodists stand it?


Oops--belated welcome, Lou!

I agree; personally, I find anything other than flat a bit of a sew-and-sew, but don't let it needle you, jackie!
At least the threadnodists don't have it all stitched up.
(No doubt others will attempt to embroider this theme.)

How can you threadnodists stand it?

Umm ... if you don't like it the way it is, you click on the approriate icon up at the top of the page to make it go the other way, duh.

[wild-eyed rant]So wofaholic was remiss in pointing us to a thread in threaded mode. So take him out and shoot him. If the seat is up and you want it down you put it down; you don't complain about your inability to understand why someone else would make a choice that isn't the same as the choice you'd make.[/rant]

[explicatory note]When pointing to a whole thread it is best to do it in flat mode; when pointing to an individual post it is best to do it in threaded mode. This is done by choosing between flat and threaded in the link to the thread or post, respectively, thusly:

http://wordsmith.org/board/ showXXXX.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=nnnnn

where XXXX is the string, either flat or threaded depending on which way you want to go.

If you are pointing to an individual post and you do it in flat mode you get the whole thread and it is difficult to determine which post was being referred to. If you are pointing to the whole thread you might as well show the whole thread and not just some (possibly) random post within that thread.[/note]

I did not intend to imply that wofa was remiss in any way; for one thing, he can post things in any format he chooses; for another, that's the way they come up, in a Search. I did change it, after the first non-productive look-up. I was merely expressing my dislike of threaded mode, because to me it is so time-consuming and frustrating. And, I agree: if I want people to see a particular post, I leave it in threaded mode when I post the ref. In this particular referenced thread, I myself chose to try and find a particular post, and was frustrated because I could not pick it out readily. Am I starting to be clear, yet?

I'm sorry, Jackie. I just have to spout off every once in a while. The main advantage to threaded mode, to me, seems to be that it is easier to see who is responding to what. The main advantage to flat mode is that it is faster. How important either of these advantages are to you will determine which way you should go.

Aha! I've learned something today. Thanks for the input. What I did was cut-and-paste the link from my monitor, inadvertently foisting whatever was there upon the unsuspecting multitudes. Now I see I can play around with it if I want to.

Sorry for disrupting those who like it the other way. I prefer Flat myself, and grump a little, quietly and briefly, when a search returns its findings in this (threaded) format. Though after a few moments of consideration, I'm not sure any link to one of our posts can ever be presented in a format that doesn't disgruntle some of us one way or the other...

yes. the trick here always is to post in such a fashion that most folks will be gruntled.

What I did was cut-and-paste the link

Hey. At least you truncated it after the post number.

The Search function about has to return threaded if you are to find the post you're looking for for the reasons I outlined above. Imagine trying to figure out which of the 99 posts it is that has the string you were looking for.

Apology accepted; thank you. One's preference does, indeed, depend upon what is most important to one. And yes, wofa [blowing kiss e], you can change the mode: not only with the little button at the top right, but in the actual address. It will say either showthreaded or showflat; if you delete either threaded or flat and substitute the other, the mode will change when you hit Go or Enter. This can come in handy when posting ref.'s.

It takes a while to learn things around here. It was probably a year before I even knew there was an alternate to flat mode, and I think that just shows my ignorance of computers. But something that shows my inherent laziness is the fact it was probably a year after that, that I realized to my horror that there is a way that people can tell who has responded to their posts. (By that time, I had the skill to research it--I just didn't bother.) I learned that some people watch especially for this, and was mortified that I had unintentionally misled people by simply clicking Reply to the most recent post and adding mine, even though what I had to say might have related to some other one in the thread. But I am still at a loss as to how to get around that if I just want to put in my 2 cents and am not responding to ANY particular post. And I confess to Replying to my own posts as often as possible, just to avoid misleading again.

if I just want to put in my 2 cents and am not responding to ANY particular post

I personally get around this by responding to the original post, in that case. However that might end up looking rather odd in threaded mode. I've never checked.

Ungghhh....I'm still not sure about flat and threaded. The way I see posts (I THINK this is flat but please kerrect me if I'm wrong), they all show up on a page that I scroll down through - each post, along with who posted it. When I do a search and the results are returned, they show up in a long list of posts, with the relevant post in full at the top and the rest just indicated by their headers. Is that threaded?

I wish I understood....

I wish I understood

You got it!

Whoa! Is this getting technical or what?

I use flat mode almost alla th'time. I go to threaded mode when I want to see who responded with which and to whom.

There's no "best".

- Pfranz

There's no "best".

I'm sure the *concept is older than the word.

There's no "best".

There certainly isn't. But between the two, there could be a "better."

there could be a "better."

But which is better may vary with circumstances. If you're wearing a pair of dirty, oily, work boots you probably won't be in the running for the position of vice-president of Bank of America, but if you're wearing a $500 pair of Guccis you're not going to get that job on the offshore oil rig.

If you're wearing a pair of dirty, oily, work boots you probably won't be in the running for the position of vice-president of Bank of America, but if you're wearing a $500 pair of Guccis you're not going to get that job on the offshore oil rig.

Thank the stars that I wear (clean) £30 ($70) suedes.