Does anyone remember a sketch about a pronunciation survey about "either/neither"?
A friend is convinced he once saw something like this- it sounds like a classic Ronnie Barker linguistic gymnastics thing but all searches of the web have turned up a blank.
Is my friend imagining this or was there really such a sketch?
Most definitely.
I remember it.
It was a news item
I like the Two Ronnies sketches that involve wordplay.
I'm going from old, old memory here. It was a news item. Ronnie Barker. Of course, spoken, so you will have to guess my pronunciations. And percentages are guessed. It went something like...
A survey of 100 people was conducted about how to pronounce the word "e-i-t-h-e-r"
23% said "ee-ither"
22% said "eye-ither"
while
14% said "ee-ither" "ee-ither" or "eye-ither"
12% said "eye-ither" "eye-ither" or "ee-ither"
but
9% said "n-ee-ither" "ee-ither" nor "eye-ither"
8% said "n-eye-ither" "eye-ither" nor "ee-ther"
5% said "n-ee-ither" "ee-ither" "ee-ither" or "eye-ither" nor "eye-ither" "eye-ither" or "ee-ither"
4% said "n-eye-ither" "eye-ither" "eye-ither" or "ee-ither" nor "ee-ither" "ee-ither" or "eye-ither"
An ana-ee-sthetist said "ee-ther"
An ana-eye-sthetist said "eye-ther"
... and a farmer said "bullocks".
A Two Ronnies sketch with wordplay. Whatever next?
