lootenants

>John Cowan wrote:
>
>>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!)
That's pretty crazy - as a Northican, I've come to enjoy the creative
flexibility we Northicans have as to whether we want to sound like Left- or
Right-pondians...  We tend to have to be aware of both, anyway - we
Northicans find it an *honor* to be in the *centre* of the right- &
left-pondian linguistic sandwich.

I personlly prefer lootenant, since I can see no reason to put a fricative
in there when it isn't written that way (ah... the power of the written
word...LOL)...  but I suspect it also has something to do with watching a
lot of Television of more southerly origins; thus there may be a kind of
generation gap here in how the word is pronounced.  I have, on the other
hand, noticed a certain fastidiousness in making sure that the "f" stands
out when the word is used in programs produced at home - unless those
programs are intended to be marketed down south (in which case all trace of
it, and other affectations, are carefully hidden).  You'd be busted down the
ranks, too, if you ever called your C.O. lootenant in the Northican armed
forces.  Interesting, these cultural games we play...

On the other hand, although I prefer to say "lootenant," my apartment is on
the left side of the building when you're facing west, which I guess
technically makes me a "left-tenant..."

Andy







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