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#67208 04/28/02 11:05 PM
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Well, when it comes to names of places, some of my favorites are:

Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
Uuande, Cameroon
Gabarone, Botswana
Tegucigalpa (and that's got to be a poor spelling!)
Belmopan, Belize

Seychelles (because it looks like seashells even though it's not pronounced the same)

Madagascar (oh, that is one of the most evocatively romantic sounding places of all to my ear)

Kiribati (because it sounds so different from how it looks)


Celebes Sea

Banda Sea

Timor Sea

Bellinghausen Sea (hard to beat that)


Bellinghausen regards,
Worldwords





#67209 04/29/02 12:14 PM
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Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)

Cool, WW, that's always been one of my faves, too! Another along the same lines would be Iquique (Chile?) I have a friend from high school with whom they were used as happy exclamations: OUAGADOUGOU? IQUIQUE!!!!


#67210 04/29/02 04:08 PM
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Wordwind mentioned Kiribati. I have heard that this is pronounced "Kiribass". Is this true?

dxb


#67211 04/29/02 04:14 PM
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dxb:

We discussed this a while back on the board. The way I've heard it pronounced is similar to what you show:

KEER-ee--bahss

...that may be off a little, but that's what I've heard. Love the sound--and it's so cool that it looks, English-wise, as though it would be pronounced a different way.

Best regards,
WorldWind


#67212 04/29/02 06:14 PM
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The lead singer of the group Tarika, from Madagascar, is a young woman named Hanitra. Her name is pronounced Hahnch.


#67213 04/29/02 06:22 PM
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>Hanitra... pronounced Hahnch.

what?? British influence in a former French colony?!

()

#67214 04/29/02 06:28 PM
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British influence in a former French colony?!

Dunno bout that. It seems a common thang for final vowels to be unpronounced. Fanafody pr, fanafood, e.g.


#67215 04/29/02 11:19 PM
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I've always liked the sound of Aruba, meself.


#67216 04/30/02 02:17 AM
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Let me say that I love all of the Good Lord's words equally.
Once when I was young and a poetry snob I hated the word
Tintinnabulation.
I thought it contrived and Poe a mere writer of, ugh, -songs.
Now I love Tintinnabulation.

And when I was young and a petty manager I loved the word FUM. Two of the office girls in my charge, after one of my friendly suggestions as to how they could become better employees, would always mumble in a sing song as I walked away, - FUM,fumfum FUM.

I thought they were referring to me as the fe-fi-foe-fum giant in Jack-in-the-beanstalk, but later I found out that FUM was a acronym for... F___K you Milo.
Today I can take FUM or leave it.

- -


#67217 04/30/02 03:18 AM
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Some of my favourite Proper Nouns are place names from Asia.

Kota Kinabalu (Ko-tah Kin-ah-BAH-loo)
Surabaya (Soo-rah-by-ah with a little bit of a roll on the 'r') Hi Bingley - correct me if I'm wrong!

Just to name one or two...


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