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#9242 11/07/00 09:30 PM
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Sorry for back-tracking a few days, but I've just returned from 4 days holiday. [As an aside, Australia virtually stops for a horse race (The Melbourne Cup), which was yesterday (Tuesday). Aus$70 million (~US$35m, and heading south?!) plunged on the ONE race. Melbourne residents get a public holiday, and many people take the Monday as well for that great Aussie tradition "the long weekend".]

why do so many Americans ... pronounce herb and herbal as 'erb and 'erbal.

Somewhere in the last few weeks - and my fruitless search of this board suggests it wasn't here - I read a funny piece about a visitor to the US who was offered "urban cheese roll". She was expecting some kind of metropolitan answer to country cooking.

Many seem to say yuman instead of human.

I, too, have heard people pronounce human as yuman, although I can't recall whether it's a national thing. More common, though, is the proununciation of the name Hugh as Yoo rather than (my preference of) Hyoo. Tends to lead to some ridiculous misunderstandings along these lines:
"Who did that? Was it Hugh?"
"No, it wasn't me, it was Hugh!"
"Was it you, Hugh?"

Have others experienced this Hugh/You pronunciation and is it confined to Americans?


#9243 11/08/00 03:31 PM
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my profile isn't very helpful either. So I have changed it. It has now become the window to my soul. :)


Avy - is it true that you can sum up the entirety of your soul in the single word, "Female"? Does that word and that condition offer an explanation for all and everything? Is this a declaration or an excuse? Or are you just being gnomic?

and, Jackie, of course mav wasn't propositioning me - the Welsh are far more notable as shepherds that as mariners.



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You are so right, Anna - Guys and Dolls: the best musical of all time

Me - I've always wanted a flat that would flatten the Taj Mahal, but I've never had "all kinds of dough!" - Maybe I'll just develop a cold!



#9245 11/08/00 03:56 PM
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>are you propositioning (did I just verb a noun?)...

not to worry, Jackie. proposition was verbed (in the U.S.) way back in 1924 -- looks like it first turned up in pulp fiction!


#9246 11/08/00 04:01 PM
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more notable as shepherds that as mariners

Mah! he's making eyes at me

That reminds me of oe of the local 'getting own back on the Saes' type jokes:

A metallic silver Jaguar glides to a halt soon after coming off the Fishguard ferry from Ireland, and a tweed-capped English gent leans out to speak to a passing shepherd.

"Aigh s-hay, Dai, could you tell me the correct road towards Brecon?"

The local looks unimpressed:
"How did you know my name was Dai, then?"

"Oh, just a lucky guess" says the Englishman, looking ineffably smug.

"If you're so lucky you can guess your way to f*-%£"ng Brecon!" replies Gwillym.


PS: Saesneg = Saxon = English


this Hugh/You pronunciation

Wales has Huw, with a suitably poetic ring that rhymes with pew as in chapel. But there is a perverse local tendency to articulate the name of the ordinal as HAYCHE, which I loathe with a passion...!

#9247 11/09/00 12:19 AM
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>is it true that you can sum up the entirety of your soul in the single word, "Female"? Does that
>word and that condition offer an explanation for all and everything? Is this a declaration or an
>excuse? Or are you just being gnomic?

None of the above. It was supposed to be a joke - a cheek that has in it a tongue? :)


#9248 11/09/00 12:29 AM
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>a cheek that has in it a tongue? :)

I have one of those too, Avy. It gets me into a lot of trouble!


#9249 11/09/00 08:15 AM
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... When I shove my tongue in my cheek, I invariably bite it!


#9250 11/09/00 09:14 AM
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One that I just remembered, and like a lot, is 'copyleft'. I know it probably isn't in dictionaries, but I love the concept. As far as I am aware it is pretty much an Internet invention, and refers to the notion of asserting ones rights over a piece of text (or software code) without charging for it - in order to ensure that it can, and will, always be distributed for free.


#9251 11/11/00 12:13 PM
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<Have others experienced this Hugh/You pronunciation and is it confined to Americans?>

Read The Go-Between.
I'd never come across it before reading this book and I was perplexed for quite some time as to what was going on!


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