# Strewn or Strown? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 8, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strewn-or-strown/683221 "2014-03-08T21:41:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strewn-or-strown/683221/41 "2014-03-10T12:02:27Z")
> [@Frank\_Merton](#): > > I’m not a native speaker and I don’t remember when I learned the word but “strown” seems correct to me. > > I see my spell-checker prefers the other. I don’t think anyone is suggesting anyone _spells_ it “strown,” are they? (Except as an occasional mistake prompted by their US South pronunciation). Or did I misunderstand this? ---
**Author:** ![Frank\_Merton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Frank\_Merton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank_Merton)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strewn-or-strown/683221/42 "2014-03-10T12:42:38Z")
I guess that’s why I use a spell checker. English spelling is often not what it sounds. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strewn-or-strown/683221/43 "2014-03-10T13:05:44Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > Pronounced “strown” and used fairly often. I’ve never heard it pronounced the other way. > East TN. Very interesting–here in WNC, “strewn,” and never that I remember heard “strown.” Perhaps more evidence that NC is only nominally southern. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strewn-or-strown/683221/44 "2014-03-10T15:05:17Z")
I forgot to mention that I am from Southern Oregon, where a lot of the generic southern dialect lives strongly. I say strewn I’m pretty sure, but strown does not sound wrong to me. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strewn-or-strown/683221/45 "2014-03-10T15:08:12Z")
Strewn. Raised in New Zealand. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strewn-or-strown/683221/46 "2014-03-11T09:49:55Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > British – grew up in the English Midlands. I rarely use the word at all, and seldom come across it being used in real-life interaction with people. I honestly don’t believe I have ever said the word out loud: had to think hard, whether I and fellow-Brits I know, would say “strown”, or “strewn”. I _think_ “strown” has it, but am honestly not 100% sure. My vote is thus for “neither” – just for there to be a vote in that category ! Further to mine as above: I mentioned this matter yesterday, to a pair of relatives of mine – who both grew up in the southern half of England. They both use the word in speech, and pronounce it “strewn”. I continue to opine that if I were to speak the word “in earnest” at all, I would say “strown”. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strewn-or-strown/683221/47 "2014-03-11T13:52:32Z")
So strown would be the Scotch in us, huh. We also say strow, as in “Be sure to strow some feed over there, too.” It’s used a lot; I’ve rarely heard “scatter.” (That’s what you do to get the cats out of the house. :p) But we don’t identify as Southern so much as “country.” The easiest distinction I can think of is that Southerners lose their "r"s while we pronounce it hard, like pirates. This is a good thread. I didn’t know those terms were archaic. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Dalliard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Mr\_Dalliard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Dalliard)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strewn-or-strown/683221/48 "2014-03-11T14:45:09Z")
Grew up in Alabama. I pronounce it “strown” but spell it “strewn”. ---
**Author:** ![sobelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@sobelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sobelle)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strewn-or-strown/683221/49 "2014-04-14T05:34:20Z")
I’ve been singing Palm Sunday music today, replete with strewing of palms in Jesus’ path. One British anthem actually spells the word “strown.” I grew up down South, and all my Mississippi and Alabama relations pronounce “strew” to rhyme with “sew” (that would be “stro” and “so”). But nobody here in Virginia says it that way. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strewn-or-strown/683221/50 "2014-04-14T09:26:24Z")
The verb is _strew-strewed-strewn_ but some people might think it’s _strow-strew-strown_ through mistaken association with _throw-threw-thrown_. Happens all the time (_snuck_ as the past of sneak, for example). ---
**Author:** ![deedee14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@deedee14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deedee14)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strewn-or-strown/683221/51 "2014-07-19T21:24:39Z")
I grew up in southeastern Kentucky, and it was pronounced “strown.” Probably not everyone pronounced it that way, but most of the elderly, and some of the younger people did. I always thought “strown” had been the original pronunciation, and changed over the years. Glad to know I am not the only person in the world who says strow and strown. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strewn-or-strown/683221.md?page=2)