Show Take My Word i iBy By Frank Colby I Atlanta In a recent column you gave the pronunciation of sumac as SHOO Now Frank honey do you OU honestly believe that su su- can ever have havethe havethe havethe the sound of oC sh sh Dixie Answer Ah sure do Sugar Omaha Please give ive me the correct pronunciation of the word T I am speaking speaking speaking speak speak- ing of the Eskimo dogs doss used for pulling sleds in the north country A. A Say uh j uh Culver er City You recently mentioned that of of is the only English word in which f has the sound of oC v v As great a curiosity is Taliaferro the name of a distinguished southern southern southern south south- ern family Camily Its It's pronounced Tolliver A. A Many l have changed the spelling to Toliver Toliver Toli Toll ver or Tolliver The queerest name that I have come across is Enroughty ty which is pronounced Darby Darby Darby Dar by H. H L. L The American Language Alfred A. A Knopf explains it thus A UA correspondent writes in explanation explanation explanation nation of this amazing pronunciation pronunciation The family the Darb Darby Dar Dar- b by having rather unwillingly had to change their name to Enroughty to secure an inheritance inheritance inheritance balanced up by continuing continuing continuing contin contin- to pronounce it like their original name name Darby El Paso The word culprit fascinates me I can see no root word in it Can you tell me how this word entered our language language Dr A. A MeL McL A. A Culprit does have an interesting interesting interesting in in- history It goes back to the time lime when French Anglo-French was used in th the courts of Eng Eng- land and actually the formation formation formation forma forma- tion of the word was an accident accident accident acci acci- dent for Cor it is an abbreviation of culpable w which h i c h meant guilty plus ready i. i e to prove it Instead of writing e eve every v e r y time the expression was used in court records officials began began began be be- gan writing the abbreviated form culprit and in time the clerks clerk's began using the abbreviation abbreviation orally Cul was the reply used to a prisoner pleading not guilty originally origin lly m mea meaning e a n i in n g gready gready ready to prove guilty or How will you be tried Eventually the literal meaning meaning meaning mean mean- ing was forgotten and the word culprit evolved in its modern meaning an offender offender offender offen offen- der one guilty of a crime or misdemeanor |