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From: iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Ivan A Derzhanski)
Subject: Re: Etymology of Butterfly
Message-ID: <Cyyos1.7E8@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: Centre for Cognitive Science, Edinburgh, UK
References: <1994Nov6.141900.29563@ac.dal.ca> <CywuF7.4on@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> <CyxAvy.9vG@inter.NL.net>
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 1994 18:31:11 GMT
Lines: 32

In article <CyxAvy.9vG@inter.NL.net> mcv@inter.NL.net (Miguel Carrasquer) writes:
>In article <CywuF7.4on@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>, Ivan A Derzhanski <iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
>>Any good reason to write _tch_ instead of _ch_ and _ou_ instead of _u_,
>>other than desire to create confusion? 
>
>Mais monsieur Derjansky,

Argh, no!  Not that.  It's bad enough that the Bulgarian authorities,
in their infinite stupidity, spelled my name in this monstrous way on
my passport.  It serves me right, I reckon, for not romanising it for
them in my application, as I shall certainly do next time.

>c'est plus chic

Non.  C'est plus sot.

It is stupid to romanise _ch_ as if it were _tsh_, or _c_ as if it
were _ts_ or _tz_, because these combinations do occur in Russian.
It is also stupid to write _ou_ for _u_, and presumably _oou_
for _ou_, given that _u_ is not needed for any other purpose.

>po-frantzouzky!

_-zsk-_, s'il vous plai^t.  Ou bien _-zssk-_.  For an even chiquer
outlook, try _frantzouzsqui_.  (NB: the Russian word ends in _-i_,
not _-ij_, so the _-y_ in the gallicisation is not justified.)

-- 
`That's yer oan problem, Judas', they telt him.  `It's nae concern tae us.'
Ivan A Derzhanski (iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk/chaos.cs.brandeis.edu)  (The G-- G--)
* Centre for Cognitive Science,  2 Buccleuch Place,   Edinburgh EH8 9LW,  UK
* Cowan House E113, Pollock Halls, 18 Holyrood Pk Rd, Edinburgh EH16 5BD, UK
