The long o umlaut, as in b�se, has its French equivalent in deux.

Tsch�ss,

Bill Potts, CMS
Roseville, CA
http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
Behalf Of Ezra Steinberg
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 19:49
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:18997] Off Topic: umlauts, etc.


Actually, in German there is a long form of the u umlaut (as in "muede",
meaning "tired") and the short form (as in "fuenf", meaning "five").
Similary,
there is a long form of the o umlaut (as in "boese", meaning "evil") and the
short form  (as in "er hoert", meaning "he hears").

French does have a vowel that is somewhat similar to the u umlauts, (as in
"tu", the familiar form of "you'), but definitely not exactly the same. This
vowel does not come in a short or long form, only a single pronuncation
(closer
to the short u-umlaut in length but otherwise somewhat closer to the long
u-umlaut otherwise).

And French does have a vowel quite similar to (but again, not exactly the
same
as) the short o umlaut in German (as in "peur" or "coeur", "fear" and
"heart",
respectively).

Prosit! Salut!
Ezra



"Joseph B. Reid" wrote:

> The discussion about the pronunciation of German ue (or u umlaut) is
futile
> since that sound does not exist in English, but it is the same as the
> French u.  The same applies to oe (or o umlaut) as in Koeln, which is the
> same as the French oe.
>
> Joseph B.Reid
> 17 Glebe Road West
> Toronto  M5P 1C8             TEL. 416-486-6071

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