It was cute when a little European lady asked me tonight in the GED class whether she should pronounce "either" as "eether" or "ayther" and I just looked at her and said "either." Not that it was brilliant. It's one thing to get a laugh out of a bunch of naive sophomores, but to get a group of adults from many different backgrounds to laugh, even just a little is pretty satisfying. Even the big construction guy laughed. This is the same guy who was as happy as a little kid to get a math problem right when he realized he could do it and giggled--you don't see that every day. Either way, it's a satisfying job.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Either
ReplyDeleteEither it's a well understood word with proper usage or it's not. The path of this word in history is lined on either side with urban legends and alternative forms.
That was an awesome link! I am such a dork, but I am going to start using "any whether" instead of either just to be retro. Thanks, Chico.
ReplyDeleteBeing a fellow dork, I love it when the English language is so jacked up that it makes it fun to try out new combinations. Glad you enjoyed the link!
ReplyDeleteAnd as I side note, I use aye-ther when it starts a sentence or used to mean "both" and use ee-ther when it's mid-sentence, usually but not always.
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