Blow
wind, come wrack
At
least we’ll die with harness on our back.
Progress, I think. My next job is to wind the next
skein (the 4th?), and the finishing of Miss Rachel’s body will not
be long delayed after that. Tomorrow I must look out needles for the sleeves,
and give some thought as to whether I have an appropriate one for the yoke. The
one I am using is too short to accommodate a substantial increase of stitches.
Forward on other fronts, too. I am now in touch with
an Italian tutor and we have set Saturday the 16th for our first
lesson. She is in Sardinia at the moment, a young woman from Rome who is here in
Edinburgh to do a PhD. I have pressed on with Duolingo which suddenly announced
that I am 17% proficient in Italian and sent me on to Stage Two.
Carol Sunday has sent me the Soutache kit, and a .pdf
of the pattern which I have printed out. It sounds a bit of a challenge, but if
Andrew and Andrea can do it, so can I.
Speaking of whom, their new podcast appeared today.
Other times, it has come out on Tuesday, and I was a teeny bit worried. It is,
as always, extremely interesting. This time, the interviewee is Daphne
Marinopoulos of the Fibre Co., neither of which I think I had previously heard
of. She blends exotic fibres, and I would like to ask her – if we patrons get
the chance – don’t you find that mohair droops? Would you agree that cashmere
doesn’t take dye terribly well, compared to wool or silk or cotton?
But what really interested me was that she pronounced “often”
as it is spelled. I say “offen”, and although I have changed many
pronunciations to accommodate British ears – “Tom-ah-to” instead of “tom-ay-to”
– I couldn’t change that one. The OED (1933) gives “offen” as the pronunciation
but acknowledges that “of-ten” “is now frequent in the south of England”.
Gilbert and Sullivan fans (I know you’re there) will
remember the passage in the “Pirates of Penzance” in which a tedious pun involving
“often” and “orphan” goes on too long – evidence that “offen” was the
common pronunciation then.
So where did Daphne get “of-ten” from? Her
grandparents came from Greece to New England, and worked in a mill. She has had
a most interesting professional history, including a spot of airline piloting.
She now seems to be based in the north of England. Maybe she changed to “of-ten”
as I have changed to “tom-ah-to”.
It doesn’t matter, there’s no right or wrong, but I’m
curious.
I say of-ten also. I have no clue why some say of-ten and others say offen. it's interesting
ReplyDeleteJean, I suspect that the Soutache project will be worth all challenges -- I eagerly queued it after discovering it through your blog. Just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteIf your new tutor turns out to be a knitter, may I trouble you to ask her for yarn-shop/textile-arts recommendations in Rome? I am here for the fall, and discovered today that the only shop I found when here in 2013 has improved its stock, at least as judged by the window display. I wonder if that change indicates a more general increase in knitting in Rome? I care prepared with three projects' worth of yarn from home, but would love to poke around and meet other knitters in my spare time. I have already trawled through Ravelry and MeetUp. The latter has people wishing for someone to step forward as host. The former doesn't offer much hope. My Italian is intermediate-level, somewhat rusty after a long absence.
I say "offen" and always have (I think). From my tag you can tell that I come from about as far south in the island as is possible.
ReplyDeleteVocalizing the 't' in often is a pet peeve of my mom's. I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "You don't say sofTen"! She used to lead church music and there was a song that started "I often go walking", so she had many reminders that there were people out there pronouncing it 'incorrectly'.
ReplyDeleteI live in Utah (USA) and hear a mix of the two pronunciations. In fact, I've heard my sister vocalize the T (which kind of shocked me, given our mom's hatred of that). I leave the T silent and would feel weird pronouncing it.
This is an interesting read on the subject:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/correct-pronunciation-of-often
...and observations here from various English-speaking countries: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/20550/in-what-dialects-does-often-rhyme-with-soften.
DeleteYou have caught me with your mention of Soutache. The yarn is in the mail. A new technique and, hopefully, a lovely bit of knitting.
ReplyDeleteSoutache is an easy (but not mindless) knit once you get the hang of the 2 colour brioche techniques. I had a lot of fun knitting it.
ReplyDeleteHEre in the Upper Midwest I hear people pronounce the T. I never would, nor do I recall people doing it when I was living on the east coast. (US) There was a vigorous discussion of it at work only recently, along with pronouncing the L in almond.
ReplyDeleteWell now, I am a staunch middle-class mid-Midwesterner with strong feelings that they who pronounce the T in often are desperately trying to rise above themselves and am posolutely absitive they should find a better way to do that, ifn they can.
ReplyDeleteGee thanks! Both my husband I pronounce the T. He has two Master's degrees and I have a B.A. How much education do we need? And we can spell.
DeleteMy mother (raised in the Rocky Mountains, with Midwestern-raised parents) told me that pronouncing the "t" in often was the mark of a lower-class speaker who mistakenly thought it elegant, upper-class usage. Growing up in California, I seldom heard anyone pronounce the "t"; the few who did met my mother's definition.
ReplyDelete-- Gretchen (aka stashdragon)
No T when pronouncing often, but I do pronounce the L in almond. I was raised in the San Francisco, California area.
ReplyDeleteBrioche is a technique I've never liked the look of in large yarns. I'm becoming tempted (pronouncing both 't's) to try it in thinner yarns. The Soutache is very elegant.
Not sure if I say often or offen. Both sound fine to me, so I'd guess I hear both frequently. I'm just going to blame the carpetbaggers and Yankees for that (j/k kinda, the reason I have a very hard to hear Southern accent is because Atlanta is full of non-natives).
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear all about your newest knitting adventure! It looks lovely, if not my style. Oh, and have you seen the mosaic lace book? It's freaking brilliant (and now I need to learn how to do mosaic colorwork). Colorwork and lace, who'd have thought it?
Never mind often, how do you say "Soutache?" lol
ReplyDeleteTomayto! Tomahto! Let's call the whole thing off!
ReplyDelete