On May 28, 2005, at 21:02, Lynn Carpenter wrote:
"Jean Nathan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Only works in the UK because we know van Gogh is pronounced 'van Go'
in the
US. The UK tends to pronounce it 'van Goff'.
And in the Netherlands, they pronounce it with a difficult, I don't
know,
glottal? sound.
Tee hee... I spent the summer of 1971 in Utrecht (never mind!!! <g>),
providing endless amusement for my dorm-mates (8 rooms, meant for one
person each. But some rooms were shared, and the singles had outside
partners, so the weekend parties usually had at least 16 people). When
people ran out of witticisms about politics (of *any* country; none
seemed even partially acceptable, and we were a thorough mix on top of
that premise), a moment of silence would happen, and then someone would
"lead":
Tamara, say "gracht" (canal)
I'd do my best (imagine choking on a chicken bone twice, with an "aaah"
in the middle), and the room would explode in friendly laughter;
"ah..." they'd say, "you *might* 'make it' in *Belgium*, but, in
Netherlands, you need to practice a lot more..."
A friend of mine in Denmark refused to even try and explain the
rudiments of pronounciation of her language; "other languages may be
difficult, but Danish is a throat disease" she said. Quite clearly,
she's never been to Holland, as I discovered after day 3 in
Copenhagen... <VBG>
"Glottal" is right, Lynn; we have trouble coping with it because,
except for the Netherlands version of Dutch, glottal stops of that
intensity are used only in African and Arabic languages; all European
ones are much more gentle :)
And, to finish, here's a "delicious" (love the multiple meanings <g>)
addition to the original "Van Gogh's Family Tree":
From: R.P.
When I forwarded the Van Gogh joke, my malacologist friend (studies
snails) replied with this:
And of course, his snail-eating French cousin... Escar Gogh
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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