Nicaragua

[Mullins, Bill]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Paul Frank
> Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2005 12:46 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Nicaragua
>
>
> Listening to an NPR piece on John Paul II a few minutes ago,
> I was struck by Silvia Pogglioli's pronunciation of
> "Nicaragua." In the middle of an English sentence with
> suitably English sounds, she pronounced Nicaragua as if it
> weren't an English word. NPR talking heads often pronounce
> Spanish names the way one would pronounce them in Spanish.
> This is odd.
>
> So why say "Nicaragua" as if you were speaking Spanish?
> Pretentious, if you ask me.
>

Comedian Brian Regan (or possibly his comedian brother Dennis) had a
routine on this very subject, using "Nicaragua" as a specific example,
some 15 or so years ago (maybe even back when Iran-Contra was still
current).