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From: dcs2e@darwin.clas.virginia.edu (David Swanson)
Subject: Re: ghoti = fish
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Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 01:30:24 GMT
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In article <56i7ev$8d3@fcnews.fc.hp.com>
rrd@fc.hp.com (Ray Depew) writes:

> David Swanson (dcs2e@darwin.clas.virginia.edu) wrote:
> 
> : In article <56cg8l$cj4@bone.think.com>
> : sandee@think.com.nospam (Daan Sandee) writes:
> 
> : > Presumably a play on a song which was popular in the days of my youth,
> : > "Que sera, sera" (Doris Day?).  This means "what will be, will be", where 
> : > "que" is pronounced "kay" (in the song).  
> : 
> : Yeah, must be Spanish.  Maybe I'm thrown off by the fact that all the
> : gondoliers in Venice sing it.
> 
> In that case, you have to listen for the accent.  If the gondoliers 
> put the emphasis on the first syllable, then it's evening, as in "Buona
> sera."  If they put the emphasis on the last syllable, then maybe
> they're just putting a Venetian sound on that first syllable, so
> that what's written "sara'" sounds like "sera'".
> 
> Next time a gondolier sings it for you, ask him to stop and write
> down the title of the song.  That should clear up everything.
> 
> Regards
> Ray "sherrrrrrrrrrr..." D.
> (Besides, why shouldn't they sing it?  They sing "Jingle-a Bells-a", too!)



What makes you think a Venetian 'a' sounds like an 'e'?  What they
sing, sounds like Che sara', and probably would be written Che sara'. 
Matter of fact they sing the whole dern thing in Italian, and not
Spanish or Venetian or English.



David

"When reading the works of an important thinker, look first for the
apparent absurdities in the text and ask yourself how a sensible person
could have written them.  When you find an answer, . . . when these
passages make sense, then you may find that more central passages,ones
you previously thought you understood, have changed their meaning."
Kuhn

