shudder » shutter

Classification: English – questionable – /t/-flapping

Spotted in the wild:

  • “Martha screamed out underneath me as I pumped her faster than before. I could feel her shutter and arch her back up beneath me.” (link)
  • “I shutter to think of what our future holds, now more than ever. … I shutter to think that anyone reads her column except for yucks.” (link)
  • “I shutter in anticipation.. Then again, maybe I don’t.” (link)

Analyzed or reported by:

  • Neil Crawford (American Dialect Society mailing list, 6 June 2005)

The first cite was provided by Neil Crawford on ADS-L. “I shutter to think” was also reported in a comment by Nigel Morphine on this site (24 February 2005). Googling “I shutter” nets quite a few web occurrences.

It could just be a misspelling, turning on American intervocalic flapping, which makes “shutter” and “shudder” homophones, or nearly so. The question is whether users of this spelling think shutters are involved. Lacking evidence one way or the other, I’ve marked it as “questionable”.

| link | entered by Arnold Zwicky, 2005/06/07 |

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