Date:  Sat, 5 Mar 1994 22:13:00 EST

From:  "James_C.Stalker" <STALKER[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MSU.EDU>

Subject: Re: Sluff/Slough



I have just been catching up on my ADS list, and a the risk of revisiting a

stale and out-of-date subject, I might mention that the <gh>~<f> variation is

an interesting one in AM Eng. I know many of the respondents on the ADS list,

and I know that they have been (and may still be) intimately acquainted with a

particular kind of beer--namely <draft> beer, which in its more upscale (and

in its past) incarnations was <draught> beer. That spelling is long gone in

the US. However, <laugh> is still <laf> and <cough> is still <cof>. The <gh>

as a spelling for <f> is quite common in the US. I checked my venerable

Webster's 10th to see what they had to say, and they list <draught> as

"chiefly Brit var of DRAFT." Now the interesting part is that the <slough of

despond> around these parts is the <slow of despond>, not the <sluff of

despond>. As my students say, "go figure!"