Comments on: Flautist or Flutist?

By: mand

mand — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:06:28 +0000

Good old Douglas Harper http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=flute . I had been thinking flute came from something to do with flow, but it seems it’s from blow – though (i can’t stop n look it up now) i wouldn’t be surprised if flow and blow are related.

Lorrie, lol but what are Flautas?

And Suzanne, we wouldn’t dream of saying British English is posher? … Would we? … ;0)

By: Maeve

Maeve — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:44:52 +0000

You’d think so. My procedure for giving a spelling test is to say the word, use it in a sentence, and say the word again. I was told that the teacher in question merely said the word without providing context.

By: mand

mand — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:50:05 +0000

… though surely the context would have made it obvious which it should be?

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:46:23 +0000

As a flute player, I’ve always said that any gig that pays over $50 makes me a flautist — below that, a flutist.

By: Maeve

Maeve — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:17:44 +0000

Mand,
Your comment reminded me of an occasion when I was teaching in junior high. A parent complained to me about another teacher who had given her child a spelling test and marked a word incorrect that the parent felt should have been given credit.

The child had written “flow.”
The teacher insisted that she’d dictated the word “floor.”