Tree tree tree, tree tree tree

I was listening to NPR during the eight crazy nights, and they interviewed a rabbi about all the different ways to spell Chanukah / Hanukkah / Hannuka / etc. He had his own preferred spelling (chet nun vav kaf hey), and his congregation had set an official one so that they could be consistent (Chanukkah), but when you get down to it, all the spellings are valid and it's just a question of personal preference.

The same is not true for the New Year of the Trees, which was observed last night and today. "Tu Bishvat" is correct (even though it's only #4 on Google), and the more popular "Tu B'Shevat" and "Tu B'Shvat" are WRONG WRONG WRONG.

Here's how it works:
The name of the 11th month is Sh'vat or Shevat. There is a sheva under the first letter, and it's a sheva na (vocal sheva) because a sheva under the first letter is always na (if SHF reads this, she may disagree about shtayim, but that's just an exception that probes the rule). The name of the month is prefixed with the preposition b' or be -- that's the letter bet with another sheva. Hence, many think that the result is "B'Shevat" or some such. BUT there is a rule that a word may not begin with two shevas. Thus the preposition becomes bi -- the sheva is lengthened to a chirik (that's the vowel that's just one dot under the letter). The sheva under the shin becomes nach (quiescent), since it's no longer at the beginning of a word; now it's just at the end of a closed syllable (bish).

Let's stop this phonological scourge by boycotting all "Tu B'Shevat" seders! Think globally, act locally!

For those who are interested, here are the Google rankings. Note that Google treats apostrophes, spaces, and hyphens as identical. These rankings are incomplete; feel free to contribute more possible spellings. All searches below are in quotes.

1. tu b'shevat 318,000
   
2. tu b'shvat 196,000
   
3. tu beshvat 87,000
   
4. tu bishvat 83,300
5. tubshvat 54,100 [this one, and #8, showed up mostly in URLs]
6. tu bisvat 21,100
   
7. tou bichvat 18,600
   
8. tubishvat 11,500
   
9. tu bish'vat 2500
10. tu bshvat 1110
11. tu bishevat 792
12. tu bi'shevat 786
13. jewish arbor day 784
    
14. tu bischwat 663
    
15. tubeshvat 604
    
16. tu bshevat 588
17. tu bi'shvat 503
    
18. tu beshevat 478
19. tu be'shvat 382
    
20. tu b'sh'vat 332
21. tu be'shevat 175
22. tu bishbat 174
23. tu b'shebat 44
    
24. tubeshevat 41
25. tu beshbat 28
26. tube'shvat 28
    
27. tubi'shvat 22
    
28. tubi'shevat 19
    
29. too bishvat 7
30. tou b'chvat 7
    
31. too beshvat 5
32. too bshvat 4
    
33. tu besh'vat 4
34. too b'shvat 1 [Googlewhack!]