B. inquires: "What is the correct pronunciation of Oleomargarine? I hear it given with g soft invariably, but it comes from margarin, which has the g hard. Webster's Unabridged edition of 1875 does not contain it at all."

[It is too new a word for Webster. There is no rule that a word should either keep to its pronunciation or to the peculiar sound of its original letters through all its subsequent changes. We say Margaret, and the g is hard, but in Margery - a pet name for the same word - it is soft. In coining a new word, euphony is the guide, and oleomargarine sounds the most euphonious with the g soft, and this is probably why you invariably hear it so. - Ed. G. M.]