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The pronunciation of “disme”
denga
Posts: 922 ✭✭✭
On occasion there have been discussions in this forum about the correct pronunciation
of the word disme. One side says that it should be deem and the other says that the usage
really has not changed and the pronunciation today is the same as the early days. Both
sides have had well thought out arguments but the recent discovery of a poem published
in 1803 would seem to lay the matter at rest:
The Tax direct which you Denounce,
By Northern States paid every ounce,
When lords of proud Virginia’s clime,
Refus’d to pay a single disme,
Stands a rich item to our credit,
While Democrats assume the merit.
New-York Herald, January 1, 1803.
Denga
of the word disme. One side says that it should be deem and the other says that the usage
really has not changed and the pronunciation today is the same as the early days. Both
sides have had well thought out arguments but the recent discovery of a poem published
in 1803 would seem to lay the matter at rest:
The Tax direct which you Denounce,
By Northern States paid every ounce,
When lords of proud Virginia’s clime,
Refus’d to pay a single disme,
Stands a rich item to our credit,
While Democrats assume the merit.
New-York Herald, January 1, 1803.
Denga
0
Comments
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Whatever you are, be a good one. ---- Abraham Lincoln
<< <i>I still hear "diss me" in my head, though ...
Actually, me too.
I don't know how much stock we can put in his credibility!
Maybe that poem was written by one of Laura's ancestors and disme was a misspelling (or should rhe previous line have read clisme?)
my brain tells me to pronounce it "dizym". Have no idea why but have always thought that.
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
Regards,
Len.
<< <i>If the origin is French, it would be pronounced like the word deem. >>
It is of course French and your pronunciation there is correct.
<< <i>The French have too many consonants they do not use. They should return the unused ones, or at least exchange them for some extra vowels. >>
Sounds like Grandpa Simpson, when he complains to the government that there are too many states, and that he should remove some of them.