Hiccoughing in my moustache

[xela]

I've unscreened the comments on my last entry; everyone who tried got it. For the winner, see my followup comment there. So, I have a question: were none of you taught those spellings as kids? I'm pretty sure hiccough was a spelling drill word for me, maybe in 4th grade.

Comments

[tla]

For me the closest analogy to hiccough / hiccup is doughnut / donut. In both cases, the latter seems like a lazy spelling. So I must have been taught "hiccough" along the line somewhere.

"Moustache" may be a Britishism.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

I wasn't taught either in school, though I have always read British books and understood such variations early.

[alierak.livejournal.com]

Weird. I didn't know anyone thought hiccough was the primary spelling. Thus saith the OED:

"[Hickop, hiccup, appears, from its date, to be a variation of the earlier hickock, HICKET q.v. Hiccough was a later spelling, app. under the erroneous impression that the second syllable was cough, which has not affected the received pronunciation, and ought to be abandoned as a mere error.]"

[kareila]

For some reason moustache seems like a reasonable variation, but hiccough just seems really freaking weird. Not only was I not taught it, I don't think I ever saw that spelling in anything I read in school.

[thomb.livejournal.com]

I believe I was taught "hiccup" and "moustache". But I can't swear to it. I can say that those are the spellings I prefer.