[Vwoolf] Why did VW prefer "a earwig" in the proofs of To the Lighthouse?

[Sarah M. Hall]

I was about to say the same thing (only Christine put it so much more elegantly). I could think of 'a earwig' in two contexts: one of a pre-school child who hasn't yet mastered English grammar. The other isn't relevant here, but when I was a student, my friend from South Wales would pronounce the insect 'yearwig', thus making it start with a consonant. Another creature, the mole, was elongated to 'mow-ell', which I loved and made her say over and over again, in my patronising English way.
Thanks for your observation, Edward, and for bringing back a long-buried memory.
Sarah

Sarah M. Hall
Executive Council
Virginia Woolf Society of GB
Web: virginiawoolfsociety.org.uk
Facebook: @VWSGB
Twitter/X: @VirginiaWoolfGB
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    On Thursday, 10 July 2025 at 02:36:58 BST, Christine Froula via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:  
 
 A fascinating observation, Ed. I'm drawn to your hearing of the ear in 
earwig--the possibility that Woolf is transcribing speech remembered 
from a moment or moments in childhood; that is, To the Lighthouse is 
full of remembered and echoing voices as of changing leaves; perhaps 
she's oscillating between the pull of memory and the grammar of revision 
in these wavering particles.

Chris

On 7/9/2025 9:18 PM, Edward Mendelson via Vwoolf wrote:
> ... and the English Dialect Dictionary identifies "rillywig" as a word 
> used in East Anglia to mean "earwig." Is it remotely possible that VW 
> heard something like that in her ear when she wrote "earwig"?
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