So I guess "how now brown cow" would translate to "hoo noo brun coo" in Orkney?? Peggy (WV - USA) [email protected] wrote: I was going to suggest IPA, but didn't think that would be a very popular idea. I'm a little rusty, but willing to try. Even with a phonetic alphabet you have to standardize the sounds. There may be an absolute sound to definean IPA symbol, but if you grew up not hearing and using that sound, you'll have trouble getting it without hearing it, and some will never be able to distinguish certain sounds. Generally, if we just take each other's descriptions with a grain of salt, a sense of humor, and a bit of patience when asking to clarify, I'm sure we'll get on fine. Just don't assume everyone does or should hear and use sounds the way you do. It's not a right/wrong moral issue as some would make it, just acknowledgement of the differences we were raised with. And fascinating and beautiful those differences can be. re "Bruce Fletcher: To avoid any doubt in pronounciation always use the Internation Phonetic Alphabet. But beware! This is NOT a trivial task - see or _http://tinyurl.com/yvrk34_ (http://tinyurl.com/yvrk34) " -- ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --------------------------------- Luggage? GPS? Comic books? Check out fitting gifts for grads at Yahoo! Search.