Date:  Thu, 17 Jul 1997 16:03:59 -0400
From:  Jesse T Sheidlower <jester[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]PANIX.COM>
Subject: Re: Bade, long and short

>
> I've been asked -
>
> >Is the pronunciation of bade (past tense of bid) controversial? . . . . Is
> it
> >a dialect issue, a class issue, or a thing indifferent? Is long a driving
> >out short a?
>
> My answer is that
> DARE is silent on this; has no entry for bid (v) or bade at all. Nor have I
> heard of any such controversy. I suspect there's a modern spelling
> pronunciation encroaching on a traditional one.
>
> But have I missed something? Is there patterned variation, or controversy?

There is indeed something of a controversy about this. The older
form is /baed/ (that is, with an ash, homophonic with _bad_ 'not
good'). Older dictionaries (W2, Century) list only this pronuncation;
Fowler 1926 and Evans 1957 specify it as well. I think that the pronunciation
/beid/ (rhyming _made_) is quite common today, and is probably increasing
in frequency. The /beid/ pronunciation is, I assume, a
spelling pronunciation; usage conservatives regard it as an error.

Jesse Sheidlower
<jester[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]panix.com>