Almost everyone over 50 knows the Ira and George Gershwin song written in 1937 and sung by Fred Astaire: “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off!” with the lyrics: You like “potayto” and I like potahto”….You like “tomayto and I like “tomahto”…..(Long A, Short A) For the song’s entire lyrics, go to www.theromantic.com/lovesongs/letscallthewholething off.htm.

George and Ira Gershwin capitalized on tomato’s dual pronunciation in this song, which has become a symbol surrounding disputes on pronunciation. According to www.http://en.wikipedia.or/wiki/tomato, this song’s lyrics have become an American slang term. By just saying “tomayto, tomahto,” people know you are being presented with two choices, neither of which makes any difference.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 at 6:52 pm and is filed under Poetry / Quotes / This 'n That. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.