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Thursday, January 21, 2010

Pronunciations

The United States has been carrying on a war in Iraq since 2003 and at the least the promoters of that war should pronounce the name of that country correctly.  It is not 'Eye-rack' with the emphasis on the second syllable but it is "I-rak' with a short 'I' and the emphasis is on the first syllable.  The same is true of Iran.  It is not 'Eye-ran.'  It is 'I-ran' and and the emphasis is on the first syllable.

Along the same lines, don't confuse the people of Afghanistan with their currency.  This morning on the news I heard Secretary of Defense Gates refer to the people of Afghanistan as the "Afghanis."  The people of Afghanistan are Afghans and the currency of that country is the afghani.

Now I feel better!

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