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As an immigrant now settled in the US, I'm shocked at how little Americans know about geography, especially for a country that has the most global impact. Often
by hackernewds 3y ago
As an immigrant now settled in the US, I'm shocked at how little Americans know about geography, especially for a country that has the most global impact. Often been asked whether I've climbed Everest and how cold it must has been in Tibet for me.
To this day, frustratingly George Bush hasn't learned to pronounce Iraq well, at least the smallest respect to a plundered country.
- OfSanguineFire 3y agoAs appalling as Bush’s actual actions toward Iraq were, his pronunciation of Iraq is a pretty common one for his generation of US English speakers. I suspect that if you looked at 20th-century editions of authoritative US English dictionaries or pronunciation guides, the /aɪˈɹæk/ pronunciation would often be listed there. The “correct pronunciation” of a country’s name in a foreign language, is not necessarily the one that natives of that country use. Languages around the world have altered the pronunciation of a country’s name when borrowing that word.