My gut reactions to things linguistic are usually much like Bill's, but I have two problems with his position here.
How does one pronounce QANTAS without suggesting to a naif anglophone that it contains a 'qu'? Kantas? More important, the ubiquity of homonyms makes the whole net-driven practice of spelling things phonetically highly problematic. It leads to abominations like "His curiosity was peaked" and 'She has a 24-inch waste!" John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA On 7/2/12, Bill Fairchild <[email protected]> wrote: > As a non-Australian but ecumenical Anglophile, I feel obliged to point out > that all the blokes and mates making telly adverts in which the word > "Qantas" is spoken aloud should then stop doing so as if it did indeed > contain a "U." > > Bill Fairchild > Programmer > Rocket Software > 408 Chamberlain Park Lane * Franklin, TN 37069-2526 * USA > t: +1.617.614.4503 * e: [email protected] * w: > www.rocketsoftware.com > > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Anthony Thompson > Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2012 11:13 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Quantas hit by leap second issue? > > I feel obliged, as an Australian, to point out there is no 'U' in Qantas. > Qantas is short for Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services, the > company's original area of operations. > > Ant. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email > to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
