Date:  Tue, 9 Aug 1994 20:50:03 CDT

From:  "Donald M. Lance" <ENGDL[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MIZZOU1.BITNET>

Subject: Re: eye dialect



Re whut. A pun/joke that comes to mind frequently is one told by Flip Wilson

on maybe the Ed Sullivan Show.

Did you know that Worcestershire sauce hasn't always had that name? Used to

be just "black sauce" till one of Flip's buddies held a bottle of it in his

hand and asked "Woos dis hyere sauce?"

The spelling 'whut'/'whu's' wouldn't work very well, would it? The vowel

isn't right, for one thing. Tim Frazer's query was asking for an easy

answer to a complex question. Not only is the author's dialect a variable,

but the regional/social dialect of the speaker being caricatured by the

writer must be taken into account -- or not taken into account if we're tempted

to use the "standard" eye dialect spelling 'whut'.  DMLance