Hi, Mark!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
    AH>  We've already read, with his version of "customary procedure",   
    AH>  that Pooh is easily confused by polysyllabic and/or formal   
    AH>  terms.  I reckon the word "issue" is new to him & he hears   
    AH>  "first issue" as interrupted by the sound of a sneeze... often   
    AH>  approximated in English as "achoo" or [esp. UK] "atishoo".  :-)   
      
    ml>  i completely missed the similarity in sound between issue and   
    ml>  atchoo... they do sound close when atchoo is said without the   
    ml>  force of a full on sneeze...   
      
      
             Yes.  The similarity is more obvious in UK English, but it works in   
   North American English (regardless of which spelling one prefers) as well.  I   
   will quite cheerfully accept your spelling because I probably would have done   
   as you did had I not looked up this word in my CANADIAN OXFORD DICTIONARY.  I   
   note with interest that the /t/ is retained there.  Another common variation,   
   according to my RANDOM HOUSE WEBSTER'S, is "ahchoo".  But not everyone speaks   
   with the same accent & not all sneezes are exactly alike....  :-)   
      
      
      
    ml>  i guess it is possible that pooh thought issue was a little   
    ml>  sneeze ;)   
      
      
             That's my take on it.  What he seems to have thought he heard was a   
   one-syllable word such as "fir(st)" followed immediately by a sneeze....  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)