The Chapel Hill weekly., 1958-07-10
Chapel Hin Chaff

were consplcu0usly present. ana eat
ing, as usual. TIE birds sang us 10 song
and the only sound we heard except our
own voices was the hum Of automobile
engines on Battle lane. | am GLAD to be
able TO call il mum because the roar
was mercifully reduced by the inter
position of q triple barrier: the honey
suckie, the privet hedge. and the high
rock wall
l don't remember why but somebody
happened to mention the marvellous
dancers who once flourished together
and who may still be flourishing for
all know but are-and this is one of
the most hateful circumstances in
American hfe--no longer together,
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. They
sang as well as danced and, though
their singing was far from equal TO
their dancing, it was all great fun.
The refrain in one Of the songs was.
Lets call the whole thing off" and
recalled TO our gathering the line,
She says nyther and ! say neether,
let's call the whole thing off," and then
another line, ''She says tomahto and !
say tomayto. let's cali the whole thing
off,
Myself, have always said tomayto
Except for some Years when lived IN
New York, where fell into imitation Of
acquaintance who were tomahto-say-
ers) Wondering if would get any sup
port from the company here, asked
Mrs. Bayley Which do YOU say. tom
ahto or tomayto2"
Il was brought Up in Raleigh to say
tomahto," she said and 80 were the
Bayleys out in ONO But the other day
heard my husband saying tomayto,
and when expressed surprise, he said
he supposed he had fallen into it BE-
cause our son had come back from
school pronouncng it that way"
The Pattons, Mrs Booker, Mrs Ed
wards and my wife were brought up 10
say tomahto and are still sounding it
that way 50 that all the support ] got
in our little party was from somebody
hundreds Of miles away.
All the dictionaries allow both tom
ahto and tomayto Webster's New In
ternational prefers tomayto. Nichol-
sons recently published Dictionary Of
American-English Usage says that
most American dictionaries prefer tom
ayto but find that tomahto is prefer
red by both the Century and Funk and
Wagnalls
The words tomato and potato both
came from the South American Indians,
and gather from the books that as far
as origin is concerned there is no more
reason for saying tomahto than there is
for saying potahto. Coming into Eng
land through the Spanish the word
tomato took the all sound ! wonder if
the fact that potato did not may be
chargeable To the Portuguese A friend
Of mine Of Portuguese descent tells me
her Portuguese dictionary gives the ay
sound for tomato as well as potato
There are surely scholars here in
the University who know more about
this subject than do and ] will be
glad if they will give me Of their know
ledge 80 that may pass what they say
on TO the readers Of the Weekly. Schol-
ars sometimes go deeper than diction-
airy makers and confound them. SO vast
have been the researches into words
that | shouldn't be surprised to learn
that thesis has been written on tom
alto and potato or maybe separate
thesis on each one
The oxford English Dictionary au-
thornes the pronunciation tomahto
but adds: ~ s. tomayto." There was a
time, however, when tomahto was not
universal in England. A British writer
on words, f. A. Phipson, wrote many
years ago:
1T is really distressing to cult.
waited Briton visiting America to fine
people there who follow what they sup