(re: 'macho') Is there some reason, though, why it was patently ridiculous ... context to have mistaken it for an Italian word? In the interior of words, isn't bare between vowels relatively uncommon in Italian? Machiavelli

Yo Joey, you don't use the same vowel in "song" ... "thong" is "cot". (Just *why* that's so is unclear, BTWWSYATGS.) Well, Fontana, let's see if I've learned anything since coming to the AUE. If

"I thought the man backstage had a speech impediment and ... out as 'thong' instead." Minnie Driver "Let me see that thong." Sisqo Yo Joey, you don't use the same vowel in "song" and "thong", do

(re: 'macho') Is there some reason, though, why it was patently ridiculous for those of us who came cold to this term, with a total lack of any and all cultural context to have mistaken it for an Italian word? In the interior of words,

There continues to be an interesting difference in pronunciation: The *Collins English Dictionary* and the *Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary* show the British pronunciation of the in to be /&/ (the vowel in "sand").

Although I know that it's pronounced "match-o" in English, Not American English "macho" is /mAtSoU/, the first vowel being the "father" vowel (I assume that goes for Eastern New England CIC as well). Is the

Thus spake Raymond S. Wise: Fine, but the consonant is short, unlike in "Oprah". The /pr/ cluster - and other clusters where the second element is a liquid - I think patterns as what ... often as as a "long" consonant in

Thus spake Raymond S. Wise: If an RP speaker were to hear "Opie," the name ... other words beginning with , such as and . Fine, but the consonant is short, unlike in "Oprah". The /pr/ cluster - and other clusters where the

There continues to be an interesting difference in pronunciation: The *Collins English Dictionary* and the *Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary* show the British pronunciation of the in to be /&/ (the vowel in "sand").

The sequence "ch" can be either hard or soft in English; "op"+consonant is automatically a short vowel followed by a long consonant. "Appropriate" et al. -Aaron J. Dinkin Dr. Whom