Saturday, June 27, 2009
May Ear, My Ear
Professor Polistra wonders why everyone is pronouncing Sotomayor as "soh-toh-may-ear" or "soh-toh-my-ear".
Dumb pronunciations are forgivable in the case of obscure languages, but most Americans are familiar enough with Spanish to know that O is always pronounced O.
Is this Ear leaking through from a memory of Golda Meir? Unlikely. Meir has been dead and gone for a long time.
= = = = =
Later: The mystery is solved. The last syllable of Sotomayor has traded places with the first syllable of Iran. The "ear" that belongs at the start of Iran is now on the end of Sotomayor, and the "or" that belongs on the end of Sotomayor is now on the start of Iran, making it "Oran". As usual this weirdness appears to be starting at CNN. ¶ 9:58 AM
Dumb pronunciations are forgivable in the case of obscure languages, but most Americans are familiar enough with Spanish to know that O is always pronounced O.
Is this Ear leaking through from a memory of Golda Meir? Unlikely. Meir has been dead and gone for a long time.
= = = = =
Later: The mystery is solved. The last syllable of Sotomayor has traded places with the first syllable of Iran. The "ear" that belongs at the start of Iran is now on the end of Sotomayor, and the "or" that belongs on the end of Sotomayor is now on the start of Iran, making it "Oran". As usual this weirdness appears to be starting at CNN. ¶ 9:58 AM
