Physiognomy Poem by gershon hepner

I think that physiognomy
should rhyme with Deuteronomy;
the g is silent as in God,
whom I define as “he Who’s Odd.”

Inspired by a debate with Leah Hochman, a Moses Mendelssohn scholar who teaches at the Hebrew Union College in LA and has a scholarly interest in ugly physiognomy. She pronounces the word with a g, which I would not, but is considered acceptable by American and English dictionaries even though the early spelling of the word contains no g. At a seminar given by Gail Labovitz and Devor Weisberg I lost a bet with her, wrongly mistaken in my assertion that to pronounce the word with g is totally unacceptable.

4/1/09