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English is weird
Tova:
Okay. No surprises there, then, as it turns out.
If you'd asked me to guess how "eyot" is pronounced, I wouldn't have guessed "eight". Even if I'd successfully guessed that the "ey" was pronounced like the first syllable of "eight", I would have thought that there'd be a schwa in there.
But then, English is weird.
Morituri:
BTW, noticed today a news story about a man born in Lancashire.
Didn't that used to be Lancastershire? I remember the name appearing in books with the extra pseudo-syllable.
Will we, perhaps, one day be able to find Worstershire in a map?
pwhodges:
--- Quote from: Morituri on 18 Jan 2022, 08:32 ---Didn't that used to be Lancastershire? I remember the name appearing in books with the extra pseudo-syllable.
--- End quote ---
Well, Wikipedia tells me:
--- Quote --- "Lancastershire" occurs in late 14th century, and Leland was still using it in 1540. "Lancashire" occurs in the Paston Letters in 1464. Lancashire became the preferred designation, as a syncope of Lancastershire.
--- End quote ---
So any not-ancient book that used "Lancastershire" was well out of line.
Morituri:
Can't rule out an ancient book; I've read a *LOT* of books, including more than a couple from centuries back.
But I don't remember seeing it in any particular book; I only remember that there were some stories where Lancastershire was a place.
jwhouk:
But the question is, how many holes in the Blackbourne section? I heard they counted them all once upon a time.
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