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View Poll Results: How do you pronounce Iraq? | |||
EYE-RACK | 44 | 51.76% | |
ee-RACK | 14 | 16.47% | |
uh-RACK | 8 | 9.41% | |
uh-ROCK | 2 | 2.35% | |
ee-ROCK | 13 | 15.29% | |
T-ROW-T | 4 | 4.71% | |
Voters: 85. You may not vote on this poll |
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10-29-2003, 08:09 AM | #1 | ||
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Iraq - How do you say it?
Americans seem to have an oddly perplexing time agreeing on how to transliterate names of foreign places. With Iraq being in the news so much -- even our journalists can't agree on how this four-lettered one ought to be pronounced. Our politicians ... oh, good heavens, I hope nobody's looking to them for leadership here.
How do YOU pronounce the country of our latest and ongoing military engagement? |
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10-29-2003, 08:13 AM | #2 |
n00b
Join Date: Jan 2003
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Although I've heard it pronounced "eye rack" in numerous contexts, I believe that the correct pronounciation is "eee rock."
Of course, we can't even agree on how to spell "Al Queda" or "Osama". . . |
10-29-2003, 08:14 AM | #3 |
Lethargic Hooligan
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: hello kitty found my wallet at a big tent revival and returned it with all the cash missing
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ear-ock would be the closest
am I the only person the break the sylables after the "r"?
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donkey, donkey, walk a little faster Last edited by Fritz : 10-29-2003 at 08:15 AM. |
10-29-2003, 08:16 AM | #4 |
"Dutch"
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Tampa, FL
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How do you pronounce it? Then we don't need to take the poll...
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10-29-2003, 09:36 AM | #5 |
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I really don't know to what extent there is a "right" answer. Are American English speakers obliged to use the preferred inflections of the native language? We bastardize so many things as we absorb them into our own language, is there really a "rule" here?
I think that the supposedly "correct" pronunciation is what I tried to represent above as ee-ROCK. I've heard intellectuals essentialy argue that there really isn't such a sount as the "a" we Americans use in words like "dad" and "cat" in other languages-- that the "a" is almost universally prunounced like in the words "yacht" or "bra." But, then, what of a place name like Afghanistan -- which is almost universially pronounced by even "highly cultured" Americans with three very American-sounding short a sounds? I think that most politicians, even cultured ones, probably deliberately try to avoid sounding too effette here, and stick with the more common EYE-RACK or even uh-RACK pronouncitations. Newscasters have a choice to make -- go by the book and risk sounding like a PC-warrior from NPR, or bend the "rules" and sound like a typical 'Merkin. |
10-29-2003, 09:40 AM | #6 |
Coordinator
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Dayton, OH
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Hey, we don't really feel the need to call foreign places by their actual names, usually just using the Americanized versions (see also: pretty much every city in Italy), so I don't see why this is any different.
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My listening habits |
10-29-2003, 09:43 AM | #7 |
Pro Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Fairfax, VA
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Can't we just call it "Little America" when we are finished?
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10-29-2003, 09:44 AM | #8 | |
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
I guess that's about where I am, too. Though, we are willing to actually re-spell places in Europe, for whatever reason. With other places, we simply try to transliterate the word, and then willingly butcher the pronounciation. I confess I don't know to what degree there are real "conventions" for this sort of thing -- maybe the style guides used by journalists are the resource that determines what is "correct?" |
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10-29-2003, 10:14 AM | #9 |
High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2000
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You left off several...
Veeee Ett Nam OR kwag mire Last edited by Jon : 10-29-2003 at 10:15 AM. |
10-29-2003, 10:16 AM | #10 | |
Lethargic Hooligan
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: hello kitty found my wallet at a big tent revival and returned it with all the cash missing
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Quote:
I think you missed something to: .
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donkey, donkey, walk a little faster |
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10-29-2003, 10:19 AM | #11 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Moorhead
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I think the seven days war was a kwag mire as well. Can't they speed up these things.
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I had something. |
10-29-2003, 10:21 AM | #12 | |
High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Quote:
You're right. If you can't win a war in three, four days tops, why bother. Last edited by Jon : 10-29-2003 at 10:21 AM. |
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10-29-2003, 11:58 AM | #13 |
Hokie, Hokie, Hokie, Hi
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Kennesaw, GA
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10-29-2003, 03:14 PM | #14 |
College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: East Anglia
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Several associates of pronounce it shit-hole
no particular emphasis on either shit or hole.
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Molon labe |
10-29-2003, 04:01 PM | #15 |
College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Jun 2003
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correct arabic pronunciation is you prounounce the I like the i in "hit", the r with a roll, and the a in raq like the a in "at" (short), with emphasis on the first syllable. Iran is pronounced similarly (not like I-RAN down the street).
Arabic pronounciation is fairly easy. Emphasis is almost always on the first syllable. The vowels are pronounced as follows: a = as in that a in "at" e = as in that a in "about" i = as in the i in "hit" u = as in the oo in "book" some combinations: ai = as the y in "fly" ei = as in the ai in "wait" consonants - most are the same as in english. A couple of notes: r = sort of a rolling r like in spanish or scottish g = as the g in "go", not as the g in "gentle" q = similar to k in english, except further back in the throat zh = as the s in "pleasure" useful word if you are in Iraq: 'awenni!!! (means "help me!!!", because if you are in Iraq you are in deep shit). p.s., yabanci is a turkish word and in turkish the c is pronounced as a "j" |
10-29-2003, 04:13 PM | #16 |
Lethargic Hooligan
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: hello kitty found my wallet at a big tent revival and returned it with all the cash missing
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that is a pretty good post for a newb.
thanks
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donkey, donkey, walk a little faster |
10-29-2003, 07:03 PM | #17 | |
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Fresno, CA
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Quote:
Two things. First if I follow you correctly you are saying the pronunciation is pretty close to ih-rack. Secondly, what does Yabanci mean? |
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10-29-2003, 07:04 PM | #18 |
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Fresno, CA
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Dola,
If that is correct, then Quiksand didn't even have the correct pronunciation listed in his poll. I knew I shoulda gone with the trout. It was a trick question. |
10-29-2003, 07:36 PM | #19 | |
College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Jun 2003
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Quote:
I think ih-rock would be closer, if you pronounce rock in the usual english way (similarly Iran would be ih-ron if you pronounce ron the way you pronounce the name). Yabanci means stranger or outsider, as in the title of Albert Camus' masterpiece novel "The Stranger." |
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10-29-2003, 09:58 PM | #20 |
Pro Starter
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Iowa City, IA
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I pronouce it EYE-RACK
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10-30-2003, 07:36 AM | #21 |
Coordinator
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Maassluis, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
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Sand, where's the "Americans don't care" awnser?
Or did you anticipate to seeing only non-Americans to vote in this poll? Yabanci, watch out with the pronounctuation lessons, or they'll think you're my secret identity. |
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