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What I am 'moaning' about is that a reference book gives examples of such incorrect usage of words.
Pairing twenty with many is akin to giving a false definition in a dictionary. IMHO. Yeah, that should never be stipulated in a text or reference book, I wholeheartedly agree. I guess the sanctioning of stuff like this in official text is part of the "dumbing-down" process in our educational systems that we've discussed so much. How these strange and erroneous inclusions, and blatant omissions, make it into print and then escape the perusal of textbook screening/selection committees, I'll never know. It's sadly amazing. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Whit and I, being avid members of the Ogden Nash Amiration Society, can hardly object to poetic use of dubious rhymes.  I heartily agree with your point about non-poetic use.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I suspect Gilbert was distorting deliberately to make the rhymes cute, as Nash did later. Putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable, when it served his purpose. He (Gilbert) did it again, and with the same sound at that, in Iolanthe:
Fairy Queen:
Oh Chancellor unwary,
It's highly necessary
Your tongue to teach
Respectful speech
Your attitude to vary.
Your badinage so airy,
Your manner arbitrary
Are out of place
When face to face
With an in-flu-en-tial Fairy.
Lord Chancellor:
A plague on this vagary
I'm in a nice quandary
Of hasty tone
With dames unknown
I ought to be more chary.
It seems that she's a fairy -
From Andersen's library -
And I took her for
The proprietor [sic]
Of a la-dies' se-mi-nary!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Then again, our friends across the pond rhyme "horse" and "sauce".
Um, don't they say it that way in Boston? I may be way off base as the only Bostonian accent I've ever heard was Colonel Winchester's in M*A*S*H
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Um, don't they say it that way in Boston?
In fact, people in Boston and in northern New England don't pronounce horse and sauce with the same vowel sound. Horse becomes "hoss," while sauce has a more drawn-out aw sound. This gets complicated, and it's hard to explain without getting into phonemic transcription (which I wouldn't dream of doing here).
It's interesting that Hollywood has generally failed miserably in trying to reproduce true NE accents. The actors often come off sounding vaguely southern US. A recent instance is In the Bedroom--a first-rate story well told, but I couldn't believe any of them were from Maine.
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...was Colonel Winchester's in M*A*S*HMajor Charles Emerson Winchester III that is!  The Colonel was Colonel Sherman T. Potter.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Ah bien, you are absolutely right Angel. What is that vitamin one is supposed to take for memory, I'll take a handful please
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dang it, what was the name of that vitamin? It was on the tip of my tongue; just can't recall...
Dammitol©.
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Carpal Tunnel
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