On Tue, 29 Aug 2006, jdow wrote:
For the record I have several dictionaries here that show both spellings
with neither the preferred spelling. The "e" on the end has fallen off
potatoe only in the days since the Quayle tarring. I learned it with
the potatoe spelling when I was in school in the 40s. It was a "Toe May Toe"
or "Toe Mah Toe" thing. Both looked (sounded) wrong to
about half the people.
My Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College
Edition (1970) lists "potato" as the only acceptable spelling (plural is
"potatoes"). Same with my Random House College Dictionary Revised Edition
(1972). I think it's safe to say those are pre-conspiracy. I already
cited dictionary.com, but I'm sure that's post-conspiracy. wikipedia.org
has an entry for "potatoe", which calls that variant "archaic" (the
spelling, not SWMBO). It cites the OED, which lists the most recent usage
as 1880 (eighteen-eighty--surely before Dan's and Joanne's time).
Wikipedia also describes the Quayle incident and mentions that the
flashcard was misspelled.
Wikipedia cites this description of the incident:
http://www.capitalcentury.com/1992.html. Quayle's advance men were
supposed to have checked the cards. I doubt Quayle was set up, but he was
certianly victimized by the media (who show no favoritism when it comes to
victimizing people for gaffes and soundbites--witness the apocryphal Al
Gore "invented the Internet" quote).
{^_^}
--
Matthew Saltzman
Clemson University Math Sciences
mjs AT clemson DOT edu
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs
