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Carpal Tunnel
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[Y]ou mean Peking?

No, I meant Peiping. But, seriously, the j in Beijing is pronounced like the j in jingoistic, rather than the z in (some pronunciations of) azure or the second g in garage. This is similar to the pronunciation of César Chávez as /si:zɚ#ʃavɛz/ (Caesar Shavez) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Wikipedia has a nice rundown (with all the usual ranting caveats) about how the form Peking is based on a 500 year old pronunciation that the French recorded in Latin letters.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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> how the form Peking is based on a 500 year old pronunciation that the French recorded in Latin letters.

cool. I allus wondered how that came to be.

thanks. and I'm always glad that I don't need to wink for you.


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I don't need to wink for you

Ta, Shrd, but, Faldo's caught me out on occasion in serious need of a wink or three.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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There is probably a pattern but with so many exceptians(immigrants from exceptia) added that the pattern has been obscured to the point of chaos.

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I always wonder how journalist or newspaper editor knows the right word when referring to people from certain city. Like if you are writing about the African country Burkina Faso, what do you refer the peoples there as? Burkina Fasoans? Burkina Fasis? Or Burkina Fascist?

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And Idaho f.i.? Idahoians? Utha? Uthans? Uthanians? Are there fixed ones for all the states?
It is a recurring reason for doubts,that's true.
Saskatchewannnees?

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Burkina Faso :- Burkinabé.
Idaho :- Idahoan, Idahoer.
Utah :- Utahn, Utahan; Utatian.

Are there fixed ones for all the states?

Here's a list from Wikipedia, and another one from the State History Guide website.

Saskatchewan :- Saskatchewanian, Fransaskois.




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Grazie.

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(Excepting the Slavic names which are based on a root meaning deaf-mute. This seems very strange to me. The Slavs didn't really think the Germans were deaf-mutes, surely?

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The Slavs didn't really think the Germans were deaf-mutes, surely?

Who knows, but it's similar to the ancient Greeks calling non-Greek speakers barbarian 'stutterers'.

[Addendum: Russian Немец (Nemets) 'German' is related to the adjective немой (nemoj) 'mute, speechless' (Leonard Nimoy's surname is probably related); other Slavic languages have related words meaning stranger, mute, stammerer, German, Northwind; the Slavic root is related to English mumble, German murmurln]


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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