Dead right on the d'oeuvres
And 98.8 is close enough. I can't be sure of the effects of jingoism in all European languages, but my take on the common misprununciations here, is..
1) Muricans are lazy about most all etymology and place no large value upon using language 'well' - effectively..? well yes: but only in the context of selling *something* [usually.. more Stuff; then comes - selling some cockamamie Bowdlerized version of a once-meaningful concept.] In this category lies [both or several connotations]
2) The genuine Circus which is - just after bizspeak - politico-babble. That wherein the aforementioned 98.8 % tend to imagine that every Murican may be neatly categorized as A Conservative or.. Liberal. This while -long since- BOTH words have so far diverged from an inkling of meaningful concept - as explains the sniping everywhere (not just zIWE) with all parties tilting at each participant's caricature of the other's caricature of... (something?). Yes I realize that other cultures do a similar hatchet job; ego takes care of the rest, to ensure a certain surreal quality to Most political debate (Tory/Labor yada yada). BUT here, it has long ago reached the stage where no sane discussion, let alone debate is possible - unless prefaced by a small essay defining terms. (Hey.. sometimes this does happen!)
3) There appears to be a perverse pleasure taken here - in deliberately Bowdlerizing the *sound* of even the most euphonious of words from other languages. A stubborn pride ~~ maybe: I'll show them furriners what I think o'their unMurican stoopid blather! I've already given specific examples. Worst mangling occurs to Spanish/Mexican - despite or because of their geog. proximity (and now increasing proportion of 'the Murican Peepul' too). In some quarters, correct pronunciation is deemed either effete intellectual snobbery or .. Commyunist-inspired [don't ask].
So what does one call, taking pride in flaunting both one's ignorance and one's recalcitrance .. in remedying it ?
In contrast: Surely the French possess one of the more euphonious languages extant (another word used here, hardly) - and are perhaps the most assiduous in trying to prevent its devolvement into biz-speak and Murican-style sloppiness generally. They love to mimic the rilly bad attempts of furriners barely even trying to speak it..
BUT - my experience in France (and Quebec) is that, any earnest attempt to speak.. is rewarded with goodwill (and the occasional whispered translation!). And if you do a pretty good job, on some oft needed phrases.. you might get a genuine smile of appreciation. Vivent longtemps la diff\ufffdrence!
En fin:
Waddaya call a person who speaks two languages?
bilingue, Three languages? trilingue
One language? America(i)n(e)
Yeah.. beating a dead horse again. Still.. I believe it is *mostly* because of our ignorant disdain for correct language that,
We keep electing assholes to high office; keep believing their self-attached labels mean something! It's the cause of matters last coming down to a Dubya and a Gore and.. there being damn few who today, come to mind as possible successors to the present Constitutional trashers.. who imagine with some reason to: that most Muricans don't know / don't care and are a bunch of scared sheep. (Disdain for the smart Muricans is also built-in, on another level: our inherent anti-intellectualism from the first)
"hors d'oeuvres" and "Lozangelas" are just the harpoon at the tip of the iceberg of arrogant jingoism here. So what do the Finns generally fuck-up? Are elections as stoopid-based but with better language enroute? Cold climate more conducive to cerebral exercise than er temperate one? (Maybe the sauna improves the specific pericosity of neurons, too ??)
{sigh}
Ashton
ranter Pro Tem n'Ad Hoc for the Wisdom of Confucius about such matters, who said -
(what I quoted eons ago)
PS IMhO your "awr devr(uh)" example is a sufficient clarification and.. eventually eliding the 'uh' comes with just a few days of Listening to Others speaking.. a radical concept; too much trouble for lots o' Murican manic travelers (Hey.. we gots 5 days left! enough to do France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.)
