Dons Quixote and Juan (was: Chile)

Garson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Sat Oct 9 03:57:10 UTC 2010


Joel S. Berson wrote
> At 10/8/2010 05:13 AM, Damien Hall wrote:
>>I believe the traditional BrE pronunciation of 'Quixote' was /'kwIks at t/. I
>>was certainly taught that by one traditionalist teacher in the mid-80's
>>(who then was probably in his mid-30s). As has been implied, though, you
>>don't hear it much if ever any more, even here.
>
> I was instructed by my high school English
> teacher around 1950 that the proper pronunciation
> was kwiks-oat.  That sounded mistaken to me,
> probably because I had heard (and thought it
> should be) kee-hoe-tay -- perhaps from my mother
> also the high school English teacher, perhaps
> because I imagined a Spanish pronunciation,
> perhaps because I picked it up in that
> traditional place of learning for adolescent boys, the street.

Did you tell the teacher that his pronunciation of Quixote was quixotic?

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