Thanks, Slate! That’s how the BBC World Service said it too! And, I insist you listen to “Morning Sedition” guest host (editorial cartoonist) Ted Rall expound (MP3) on Kyrgyzstan. It’s fascinating and funny! Take my word for it. I insist, dammit!
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This is a test…. to see if we can front-page stories. Boo, you can kick it off the front page if you want :):) The Slate story is VERY cute … check it out.
Maybe we should see if you can’t take it off by putting it back in ‘only display in section’.
We’re having some admin problems today folks.
We’re cookin’, Boo! I removed it from the front page and restored. Now you can do whatever you wish with it! (Be gentle.)
You’re right. Nice short, funny but very informative article on pronunciation and history of language. Trying to catch up on my reading and some posting after being down for several days.
Kyr – gyz – stan
If it was not a hard “g”, it would be spelt with “zh” in English. (like Zhivago).
Sure, go ahead and assume that Americans can pronounce words properly from another language. We’re not forn (obligatory Terry Pratchett reference, because he’s the best writer on multiculturalism today), we don’t have to learn a half-dozen languages to speak with our neighbors (the illegal immigrants from Mexico can learn English).
Uh, what were we talking about?
Well, at least there’s a chance that another country might actually see democracy flower.
Before doling out the “4”, you should ask me to pronounce your name! I’ll cheerfully admit that I am not sure. Is it as “you”?
An old joke about pronunciation in english id the following:
How do you pronounce “ughoti”?
answer: like “fish”
ugh = f, like in laugh, tough, etc
o = “ee” like in women
ti = sh like in nation
I was thinking BOO when I first typed it.
Btw, my real last name is Welsh. Almost no one has ever correctly 1) pronounced it or 2) spelled it without my help.
In fact, when I’m on the phone with someone who needs my full name, I just say it quickly and immediately follow with, “It’s spelled H … etc., etc.”
Even the supposedly easy names are difficult. I’ll say, “Hello, my name is Susan.” And I get: “Oh hi, Suzanne!” “Hi, Suzie!” Hey, Suze, what’s going on?”
what’s even worse is having a last name that sounds like a common one but is actually spelled differently.
Like having the last name Karlsson instead of Carlson.. in the States, everybody thinks they can spell it, and then I have to jump in and say “uhh, no, that’s not quite right”.. I’d actually prefer a name that people just knew flat-out that they couldn’t spell!
yeah know what you mean as my first name being suzanne and people then say hi susan…I’m like wtf did I just say …whats so hard about suzanne and why shorten it? what’s so hard about the name susan/suzanne anyway? sorry for the little mini rant but it’s a real pet peeve of mine. (add that to my ex-married name of Trujillo and I could be assured of my names being mutilated altogether)
oh man thanks for that..I’ve been trying to find that again for years and couldn’t quite remember enough of it to even look it up anywhere.
My favorite bit of the lunacy of the english language.
КИРГИЗСТАН
See..easy. What’s the problem? 😉
That’s how you SPELL it, not how you SAY it.
Now listen closely . . .
Sorry, thought the smiley was enough to signify a joke…and yes, I do know how to say Kyrgyzstan…learned it fairly early in the six years that I lived out there…;-)
Well, I know it was a joke, which is why I said “Now listen closely . . . “. That was my joke. If you can hear your computer telling you how to pronounce anything it’s probably a sign that professional help is required.
Say, I couldn’t get the link to the Rail mp3 to work – is it just me?
Grrrrrrrrrrr…. I pasted the link directly from the site. There were two links, and I used one of the two.
This other one works:
http://www.airamericaplace.com/upload/aams032505.mp3
(and I changed the link in the text to this)
from here I think I’ve found the solution. Download the archived file and then burn it to CD – that way I can listen in the car. Just burned Friday’s Morning Sedition and have to go to the grocery store, so I’ll listen on the way. (I promised I would listen 🙂 )
Someday I’ll probably break down and buy an actual iPod, but I don’t like earbuds and the only time I listen to anything other than live human beings is when I’m doing housework or cooking (ITunes to stereo via WiFi) or in the car – and it’s just so much easier to burn CD’s rather than buy some expensive gizmo (on top of the expensive iPod) that let’s you play your iPod through your car stereo.
Fyi: The parent site for all the archives of all the Air America shows is http://www.airamericaplace.com
It’s free although he does ask for donations from time to time. I gather that Air America doesn’t mind because he’s been doing this for, oh, about 8+ months. Another show archive that is great to listen to: Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s show, Ring of Fire.