----- Original Message ----- From: <MedCat7 at aol.com> To: <dragaera at dragaera.info> Sent: Friday, February 18, 2005 9:27 AM Subject: Re: evolution in language: OT.now on topic > In a message dated 2/18/2005 10:33:56 AM Eastern Standard Time, Louann Miller <louann at millerdome.com> writes: > > >At 10:28 AM 2/18/2005 -0500, Steve Simmons wrote: > >>While I agree with Joses note as a whole, I do want to point out that > >>populations tend to grab foreign place names and make them their own. > >>Thus we have Versailles (ver-SALES) Indiana, Milan (MI-lan) Michigan, > >>Amarillo (AM-uh-RILL-o) Texas, and Canton (CAN-tun) Michigan. I don't > >>know about Amarillo, but the other three were based on locals picking > >>names of places they're read of, but not heard pronounced. Four languages, > >>four horrid pronunciations (Canton MI is after Canton China, not the > >>political subdivisions of Switzerland). > > > >Don't forget PAL-us-teen Texas (spelled Palestine) and the battle of San > >Jacinto, with a J. Although the latter may be justified on the grounds that > >whoever wins the battle gets to name it. > > > >Louann, with some exposure to Spanglish. > > > > > And there's places like Woosta (figure out how that's really spelled... Mass people should be able to get this one). > -C > > > I lived in Meeuwen for four years, pronounced "may-win". Crazy Belgians. Jeff