Re: Ianthe and Linguistics

[Kim.Salazar@em.doe.gov]

     Henry corrects me on the proper way to say his name:
     
     
Ianthe sez:
>     By all means, you may pronounce my name "Hay-Yoo."  Of course, if you 
>     do, I celebrate your spirit of cross-cultural tolerance by pronouncing 
>     your name "Ecki-Ecki-Ecki-Piyoo-Pitang".
     
Geez, I _hate_ that! Any fool can see there are only two "ecki"s in "Henry". 
I implore you: please take Alianora's class on European Languages. A mind is 
a tragic thing at waste, or words to that effect.
     
>     Oh, and that's "Countess Hay-Yoo".
     
Excellency, at this point, I throw myself open to your mercy; as no slight 
was ever intended. I swear upon my honor, from this day forward, I will never 
fail to address you as "countess", should I use the "hay-yoo" pronunciation, 
as is proper in my native tongue.
     
-Henry the Pedant
     
     To Henry from Ianthe,
     
     I apologize for my ignorance, not having attended Alianora's class in 
     European languages.  Also for my inability to type linguistic 
     notation.  I should have noted that the second "Ecki" was not fully 
     voiced, being more like a glottal stop between Ecki One and Ecki 
     Three.
     
     Thank you in advance for thinking to include my title when addressing 
     me by the "Hay-Yoo" phoneme.  Having not taken the excellent 
     Alianora's instruction, I am unsure exactly how many other spellings 
     are homophones for "Ianthe" in your native tongue and might be 
     pronounced similarly.  I don't wish to contribute to the general 
     confusion if you choose to bellow my name across the field.
     
     This does leave one topic open for speculation.  How many common words 
     innocuous in everyday speech are actually words of dire insult in 
     Henry's language, and how can we avoid pronouncing phrases of 
     offense as we discuss even so innocent a topic as the weather?  
     
     -Huzzah!
     Ianthe                                     kim.salazar@em.doe.gov
     
     
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