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K.A. Skala of Denver writes:

It does not surprise me that our nucular President is having problems to reconize the letter “a” in the name of Dalai Lama. But must all out TV announcers follow the Great Decider and read it as Dali Lama? The BBC does not seem to have the same problem.

This letter has not been edited.

READER COMMENTS

Please spellcheck your letter. Some letters appear to be missing.

Be happy that the president and congress didn't bow to the political expediency to please China. As for the great BBC they have made far more mistakes than pronunciation. The BBC can not seem to check and verify their stories.

Hmm, may be we should “reconize” Skala’s efforts as lame at best. I bet the BBC also miss-spells words such as “tyre” and “colour” to, among hundreds, probably because they live in a different country with a distinct dialect and language. So Skala are you renting a car or hire one?

Who the hell is K.A. criticizing when he himself can't even write a coherent letter?

Carl Spackler flashback anyone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnHaTlI1p7o

People mispronounce words all the time. Here in Colorado it drives me nuts to hear someone say Pee-eblo, which should be pronounced Poo-eblo. Another good one is Westminister, which is Westminster.

Lay off Bush. We know what he means.

I thought liberals were supposed to be tolerant of other cultures. They would never ridicule the broken, grammatically incorrect dialect of the American black urban culture; Nor would they ever criticize the heavy accent of the Latino. But, the oft touted tolerance of the liberal vanishes when it comes to the Southerner. It's no wonder the left lost the South.

John2 I suspect that if the left "lost" the south it was more for pointing out the injustice of certain cultural relics from the good old days- whippin slaves and pickin cotton, look away, look away- and that such relics might be more than unjust and an impediment to the sort of society our founders wrote about and tried to construct the framework for than it was for linguistic snobbery. The left recognized that the deep-rooted social injustices of the old south were a constant obstacle in the way of a more perfect union, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity, whereas the republicans saw it as a chance to split the democratic party and pick up some electoral votes. It's not by chance that the majority of the old dixiecrats became republicans. Nixon's southern strategy.

C,

Actually, it's pronounced 'pweb-loh'.

The combination of a 'p' and 'u' form a 'pw' sound, as 'q' and 'u' make a 'qw' sound in 'quiet', or 'queer'.

davis X. Machina,

Slavery and cotton picking? That's why the left lost the South? I don't think so. Perhaps, the left's cultural elitism, hatred of our military and aversion to Christian values has something to do with it.

Given the propensity for blacks to commit murders and Latinos to break immigration laws, it seems like the left should be more concerned about "general welfare" and the "blessings of liberty" regarding those cultures rather than some antiquated view of Southern racism.

lol...someone makes fun of our moron of a president and the wingnut apologists come out in force to attempt to paint any such criticism as "racism" or "hatred"

priceless

I honestly can't believe we still have folks carrying this guy's water

jay likes to carry hillbillary's balls in his mouth.
I guess that is because he doesnt have any of his own

Gr8 comment Brian,

Kudos, I hope it is you showing a slight wit, maybe you yet can prove more than a half, ...

wit, that is

Right on 12:41 your taunting prowess is formidable indeed, as a fifth grader I would have quivered in fear at your talent.

God Mike, aren't you nitpicking? My point was to show that it is not pee-eblo. Pweblo was probably a better way of showing it, but you got my point?

C,

I know people who pronounce it 'poo-eblo', and, even, 'pew-eblo' so, no, I'm not nitpicking; and, no, I didn't get your point, since you also pronounced it incorrectly.

Mike,
Take a nap.

If you are going to correct someone, then don't take offense when someone corrects your mistake.

I'm well rested, thank you.

I believe that Skala was intentionally misspelling those words to illustrate the lack of pronunciation by our president. Besides, there is a difference between not knowing how to spell and committing a typo. Most everyone on here has probably mistyped a very simple word at somepoint or another.

BO, if Skala takes the time to point out someone else’s mistakes, that he (she?) should be prepared to take the heat for their own. By the way, what is “all out TV announcers”?

Mike @ 2:51,
If we are going to use Spanish words to name towns, then we ought to have the decency and courtesy to pronounce them correctly. Phonetically, it's "PWEH-blo", not "PEE-eblo" or "POO-eblo". It's "BWEH-nah VEE-stah", not "BYOO-nah VIH-sta". As far as I'm concerned, any other pronunciation smacks of ignorance or chauvinism.
The letter writer is correct. President Bush has a State Dept. full of people who can tell him how to peonounce the Dalai Lama's title.

peterpi,

I agree. If you look at my post from 10:08 A.M. you will see I made that same point and chided C for his mispronunciation.

The standard mispronunciation of Buena Vista drives me nuts, also.

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