bough n: boughwolfen

• Format: Manuscript
• Language: English
• Published: 1987
• Subjects: English language > Dialects > Newfoundland and Labrador; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/elrcdne/id/5897

bough n boughwolfen - no need to keep this memo. OCT 11 1987 It is interesting that author cannot go to his playmates and ask them if they say _wolf_. "for some of us." _roofit_ looks like popular etymology. Excellent analogy is the rustic fence = rough stick fence. the -en is 'in' = -ing. boughwolfing The revelation in Noseworthy's thesis is that parts of Nfld drop -l's in words. The name is vocalization, and is a main feature of Cockney speech and plays. (I don't believe that Harold has plotted these replacements of -l- by oo or oe.) When the folk (dropped -l-!) make an error, those moving up the social ladder both avoid the error, and correct the error. So when an inexplicable _boughwhiffing_ or _bough woofing_ is adopted by social risers, they improve it and put in what they feel is the missing -l-. What is interesting about this poet and fiction writer is that the resulting word if imagistically rich with the spelling _wolf_. Wolves go there? A wolf outside the hut in the dark? Bill High Holburn Used I and Sup Not used 2 Not used This is filed before B_5047 in BON drawer.