Posted by Jock on May 29, 2005 at 12:07:31 from 84.68.121.214 user Jock.
In Reply to: Re: Norwich/Harwich? Which wich? posted by John Nichols on May 16, 2005 at 16:22:07:
I was always intruiged by the Dr Foster poem,
Dr Foster went to Glouster
In a shower of rain
He stepped into a puddle
Right up to his middle
and never went there again.
I have always pronounced puddle and middle with the same sound for the u and i when I read the rhyme to my daughters, using the English u sound (Ed that would be an o-ish sound to you). So I say muddle.
Maybe the nursery puddle was the Piddle,
Now that really would go up to his middle.
A tricky ford crossing for horse and Foster,
It's on the way from Corfe to Gloucester.
While however muddy, a fall in a town puddle,
Would get the royal clothes into a right muddle.