You say tow-may-ter and I say toh-mah-to /So let's give the whole thing up
[EMAIL PROTECTED] said: > I'll bet the vast majority of people just want, just like I believe it was > the original poster, a way to learn an acceptable way to pronounce orchid > names so as not to sound stupid. If you are writing a dictionary, you need precise spelling; if a text message, u cn write wot u lyk. If you are somewhere in the middle, some degree of precision is needed: Coelogyne as "slodge-knee", as I once heard at a show, simply will not do as the basis for communication. So one needs some understanding of the root of a Latinate name if one is going to make sense of how it ought to be pronounced: leuco-something from the (Greek) word for white, so not 'lee-oo-co' but 'lew-ko'; and so on. Also, it helps when you try to put a name to a face: something 'glauca-' is going to be furry and probably white or gray, something 'lanceo-' is going to be long, thin and pointy. You can legitimately say 'glor-ka' or 'glaow-ka' but not 'glay-oo-ka', given the root of the name. So this imposes a discipline that is, ultimately, helpful. ______________________________ Oliver Sparrow +44 (0)20 7736 9716 www.chforum.org _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
