Re: silly question
On Sunday 13 March 2005 09:29 pm, Pigeon wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 02, 2005 at 07:31:31PM -0800, Freddy Freeloader wrote:
> > John Hasler wrote:
> > >Michael Z Daryabeygi wrote:
> > >>Why is it that so many americans have looked at it and said, "Deebian"?
> > >
> > >Because they are obeying the default rules for pronunciation of english
> > >words.
> >
> > And what "default" rule is that? There is no silent "e" on the end of
> > the word. There is no double "e" in Debian. There is also no other vowel
> > directly following the "e" so I see no way that anyone should pronounce
> > it with a long "e". I've just listed the 3 spellings that indicate a
> > long "e" and none of them apply to "Debian".
>
> There are analogous words with a long e: Ephebian, Armenian,
> Slovenian. Indeed, "Debian" looks like it refers to an inhabitant of,
> or something originating from, Debia (with a long e) (and I have known
> "Deebian Gnu Linux" to be taken for some Tolkienesque language).
>
> These more familiar, similar words make it natural to assume that a
> long e is correct.
Is there any way to kill this thread and put it out of our misery?
Oh, I've got it -- a sure thread-killer!
Did you know that was the same way Hitler pronounced those words?
Hal
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