spootnik

[William Ryan]

I would agree with that. In fact I remember an English tabloid headline 
unkindly referring to a failed satellite launch as a 'phutnik' - and it 
was referring to a US rocket. The cheap press can't resist a bad pun 
whatever its target. Apart from serious expressions of concern about the 
extension of the cold war into space, the only anti-Soviet comment on 
the early Russian space program that I recall in Britain was also in the 
tabloid press and expressed outrage at the cruel exploitation of dogs 
(the famous Laika) - always a good thing to accuse foreigners of in 
English popular newspapers.
Will Ryan


Ernest Sjogren wrote:
>> It was anti-Soviet propaganda - diminishing the accomplishment by 
>> making it sound like it went "putt-putt."
>
> Not that I recall, but I suppose that may have been possible for 
> some.  A "u" followed by 2 consonants was usually sounded to rhyme 
> with "but" and would have been so pronounced by most people, an aural 
> model lacking.
>
> Ernie Sjogren
>

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