Talk:tulgey

Tea room discussion

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)