Date: Sat, 12 Oct 1996 12:48:35 -0400

From: Robert Kelly kelly[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]BARD.EDU

Subject: Re: medical Mondegreens and a legal one



No, I don't think Oh Yes is a hypercorrection of Oh Yeah --- oyez, as

good Anglo-Norman, was pronounced anciently and still so in England as

oy-yeZ or o-yeZ, that is, the z was always pronounced. It never lost the

terminal consonant as standard modern French has. (It must please the

British to mispronounce schoolboy French, and do it in a loud voice!)

So the pronunciation adduced is instead likely to be a replacement of the

unfamiliar and unique syllable -yez by the common word 'yes'



RK



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Robert Kelly

Division of Literature and Languages, Bard College

Annandale-on-Hudson NY 12504

Voice Mail: 914-758-7600 Box 7205

kelly[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]bard.edu