Re: Ennui (was Re: Multilingual translation exercise, part 1)

Nihil Sum scripsit:

> And since we're on the topc of mangling French loanwords: does anybody know
> how the "f" got into "lieutenant"?
Only in Rightpondia and Northicia[*], be it noted; here in Lower Leftpondia,
it's /lu'tEn@nt/.  Did lootenants and leftenants face off against
each other at Yorktown, or at the burning of Toronto, one wonders?
(The TelePrompTer of Peter Jennings, noted anchor of a Leftpondian national
teleprogram "XYZ News" -- and Northician by birth -- actually displays
"lootenant" so he won't slip and reveal his foreign origin, quelle horreur!)

Or were the dialects not discrepant enough in those days?

[*] And the other Rightpondian colonies, such as Downundria, Sarfeffrica,
Bharattia, Cecilia, and of course Aotearoa.

--
John Cowan <jcowan@...>     http://www.reutershealth.com
I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen,    http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith.  --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_

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