shew

[birdeen's call]

I met this spelling recently. I know it's archaic now but how was it pronounced?

 

[lilistu]

Hi, shew is an archaic form of the word "show", as in "Show me the dictionary you are using.", or, "I saw a show in the theater.". Also, it is better to say, I encountered this word, or, I found this word... Stu

 

[BobK]

I guess you found it in Pygmalion. I think Shaw used it for reasons like those given by Lewis Carrol's Cook:

'He only does it to annoy
Because he knows it teases.'

(More here: http://www.literature.org/authors/carroll-lewis/alices-adventures-in-wonderland/chapter-06.html )

Shaw was in favour of spelling reform - and I think he even left a bequest to finance either a study or a society devoted to it.

(But maybe it wasn't archaic in those days.)

b

 

[BobK]

PS Not the Cook (although she did join in the chorus); it was the Duchess.

b

 

[birdeen's call]

Thanks! That's right, I found it in Pygmalion.