I realized today that “tut tut” as in “Tut tut, looks like rain” from Winnie the Pooh , is an attempt to render precisely the same sound as might be rendered tsk-tsk or tch-tch or referred to as clucking one’s tongue. I don’t think I’ve ever made the connection between any of them before. I feel quite the fool.
Also, in my electronic perusal of the “tut tut issue”, I stumbled across another set of discussions noting that the word “erm” seen in British works (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a few, if I recall) ought to be pronounced with a British accent (duh) and ends up not far from an American “um” And similarly, the British “er” thereby corresponds to the American “uh”.
Now I just need to go back and re-read all of the books I've ever read that contained any of these terms, just so that my memory of the book will properly reflect the authorial intent.
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