Talk:tulgey
- Note: the below discussion was moved from the Wiktionary:Tea room.
The current pronunciation given has a soft g, but I've always pronounced this word with a hard g. Similar English words with a soft g end in "-gy", not "-gey" (vide (deprecated template usage) bulgy, (deprecated template usage) edgy, (deprecated template usage) argy-bargy), so my assumption has always been that Lewis Carroll (aware of this) used the "-gey" spelling purposefully.
Ultimately, the question comes down to how people are actually pronouncing the word, but it's not in most dictionaries, so I can't check that way. does anyone have access to audio recordings of Carroll's poem, perhaps through a local library? The only audio source I have at hand to check is the Pythonesque film Jabberwocky, based very loosely on the poem. --EncycloPetey 19:36, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
- It is in the OED, pronunciation as given. Ƿidsiþ 20:33, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
- I've always used the hard g. And I am fond of reciting the poem (;-). I think it is a matter of personal choice, it is an invented nonce and used by its creator in a written work. (As against, say, "supercalifragi..." which has a canonical pronunciation from the film.) Perhaps we ought to give both alternatives? Robert Ullmann 14:51, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
- Carroll does give us guidance in the preface to Through the Looking Glass:
- The new words, in the poem "Jabberwocky", have given rise to some differences of opinion as to their pronunciation: so it may be well to give instructions on that point also. Pronounce "slithy" as if it were the two words "sly, the": make the "g" hard in "gyre" and "gimble": and pronounce "rath" to rhyme with "bath".
- but unfortunately does not mention "tulgey" there. There is more in the preface to The Hunting of the Snark, but again not about this specific word. Robert Ullmann 14:59, 8 October 2008 (UTC)