Re: USAGE: English vowel transcription [Re: Droppin' D's Revisited]

On Thu, 12 Oct 2000, Irina Rempt wrote:

> On Thu, 12 Oct 2000, Roger Mills wrote:
>
> >         The Dutch word _vaak_ (meaning 'hobby', inter alia) can sound very
> > naughty, to the careless American ear.
>
> I've been speaking Dutch for about forty years and I've never
> encountered "vaak" meaning "hobby"! Usually, it means "often", and in
> archaic expressions it can mean "sleep".
Belatedly, trying to pronounce "vaak" with an American accent, I
realize that you probably mean "vak" [vAk], not "vaak" [vak].

It doesn't mean "hobby" either, however; quite the contrary, it means
"job, trade, profession" or "school subject", or "compartment,
pigeon-hole".

   Irina

--
           Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
irina@valdyas.org (myself)     http://www.valdyas.org/irina/valdyas