Date: Wed, 9 Jul 1997 13:53:58 +0000

From: "E.W. Gilman" egilman[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]WEBSTER.M-W.COM

Subject: clorox or whatever



I have just been browsing through some of our evidence for "smelt" as

the past of "smell" and find that most of the recent stuff comes from

British writers, although a couple from American magazines may be

Americans. It was not uncommon in older American English. I leave

you with this odoriferous sample:



The whale was not a long one, physically speaking--say thirty-five

feet--but he smelt much longer; he smelt as much as a mile and a half

longer, I should say, for we travelled about that distance beyond him

before we ceased to detect his fragrance in the atmosphere.--Mark

Twain



EWG