Anglicization

[Joel S. Berson]

At 10/9/2010 02:37 AM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>>The Economist's Johnson blog recently faulted Obama for using the "ah"
>>pronunciation:
>>
>>http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/09/barack_obama

Surely habañero is ignorance, not
hypercorrection, which Wikipedia condescends to
with a "perhaps".  In the days when newspapers,
especially, did not render accent marks, we
wouldn't know it wasn't like jalapeño.  (There
are much better examples later, although others seem very picky.)

I speak from personal experience (with the words;
I limit my exposure to the product).

>--
>
>I would use the "ah" pronunciation [in
>Copenhagen] also. And without any notion that it
>is faithful to a Danish pronunciation.

But when I learned that it was "ay" in Danish, I
changed.  (The lesson was brought home to me when
I heard British actors say it that way in the
Michael Frayn play -- surely *British* actors
speak correctly.)  That's a sound I have in my English.

Joel

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