POOT-yin/POOCH-in

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:11 PM -0400 8/7/00, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
>In a message dated 8/7/2000 10:09:08 AM, stevek at SHORE.NET writes:
>
><< Actually, when I researched his name, I found that it's closer to
>POOT-yhn and is definitely not poo-TEEN. I checked with Russian sources,
>our etymologist checked with a bigtime Russian acadmeic, and I sat myself
>down and watched a newscast on Vremya to verify this.
>
>
>--- Steve K. >>
>
>Thanks for the clarification--so it isn't a syllabification thing, it is a
>phonemic-sequence thing. But why don't Americans say POOT-yin or POOCH-in?

well, the former is too un-American-sounding, and the latter is
pre-empted by the term (possibly not yet attested) for a
demonstration of dogs and dog-owners protesting rabid enforcement of
leash laws.

larry