Of my many, many Itish friends, the ones with whom I spend the most time are Carb O'Hydrates and Patti O'Furniture.
The words Sue (as in (1) "A Boy Named Sue", the song made popular by Johnny Cash or (2) the character Betty White played on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Sue Ann Nevins, host of "The Happy Homemaker" show on fictional television station WJM-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota), Sioux (as in (1) the Lakota Sioux tribe of native Americans or (2) the towns of Sioux City, Iowa, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota), Sault (as in the town of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan), and sou (an old French coin worth five centimes or 1/20th of a franc) are all pronounced exactly like the first syllable (with yet another spelling) of a two-syllable, hyphenated word for an assistant in a kitchen. Can you tell me the word?
One hundred twenty-five years ago today, on January 29, 1899, my favorite aunt, Marion (Silberman) Caracena was born in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. She died in November 1987 (88 years, 9 months later) in the town next to it, Abington. I have missed her ever since (and I'm biting my tongue to keep from saying because Abington makes the heart grow fonder).
I believe sous-chef is the word you are asking for. I pronounce it like "Sue" or, i guess, sue.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember any important dates for my favourite aunt but she was a great woman with a great deal of longsuffering. I wish she was still here
sous-chef is correct. I was fascinated enough by the number of different words, in this case 5, that sounded alike (to blog about them. Homonyms, I believe they're called. Thank you, kylie..
DeleteSous-chef is the main assistant to the chef. By the way I live near Sioux City and Sioux Falls. The next county over is Sioux. Many tribes of the Sioux Nation were and are located here. I had a sister-in-law who was born into the Sioux Nation at a time when names of all the tribes she belonged to were listed on her birth certificate.
ReplyDeleteAs I told kylie above, sous-chef is correct. I was fascinated enough by the number of different words, in this case 5, that sounded alike (to blog about them. Homonyms, I believe they're called.
DeleteI remembered that you life in "far northwestern Iowa" when I was composing this post. Thank you, Emma.
I was pretty sure that I'd been to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan when I used to stay in Sarnia in Canada. However looking at the map I think I just got that far in my head.
ReplyDeleteI have been to Detroit but have never been to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. My son made it to Mackinac City and St. Ignace a few years back, but he didn't go all the way to Sault Ste. Marie. It seems to be off the beaten track. Thank you, Graham.
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