The next in our weekly e-mail series, brought to you courtesy of The New York Public Library Desk Reference, Fourth Edition.
Page 435:
There are nine different ways to pronounce the letters OUGH. All are contained in the sentence “A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.”
Page 392:
Although the @ has no name in the United States (it’s just called the “at symbol”), other countries call it “monkey’s tail,” “little snail,” “cat’s tail,” or “spider monkey.”
Makes you wonder, where'd we be @ without that at symbol?
And yes, I know that's grammatically wrong. I did it apurpose.
2 comments:
Auntie Nettie-
I hope you don't mind that I comment every now and then on this here blog. I enjoy your thoughts thoroughly. The grammar oddity of the week is very helpful to me. I'm not so good with the English, you know.
@Anonymous - I think you meant to say, "I ain't so good with the English."
@Auntie - I must admit that I had to look up the word 'slough' for both a) its meaning, and b) its pronunciation. I blame it on my fourth tier education.
Post a Comment