4 replies to this topic

[ronny]

The group of ghosts seen in the second act of Giselle is pronounced "Willies" but is often spelled "Wilis".  

I always thought it was "Wilis" but I recently put both spellings in a search engine WITH the word "Giselle" and I got a greater number of results with "Willies"!!   So which spelling is correct?  It almost seems like nobody knows for sure.  

My guess is that the one version is based on the history of the word and the other is used so that the person reading the word can pronounce it correctly.   That is my take on it so far.   One version is "proper" and the other is "practical".  

How do you see it?

[Mme. Hermine]

this was an interesting page, did you see it?

http://www.wiliqueen.com/wili.html

[Mel Johnson]

"Wilis" are what you get when you see Act II Giselle.  "Willies" are what you get when you get called in to the IRS for an audit.

[kfw]

The Wilis give Albrecht and Hilarion the willies!

[MJ]

I saw a t-shirt saying "Giselle gives me the willies!"