Re: CHAT: Japanese English (was Re: Correction, I hope,of M/C URL)

Roger Mills:
> << I wondered that about 'halation'. But if this one is a word, 'escalation'
>  could well be :) .   >>
> Perhaps a root erroneously extracted from inhale/inhalation/exhalation? so,
> "breathing"??  Nothing would surprise me here,
Why would it be erroneous? There's a Latin _halare_, isn't there?

John Cowan:
> BTW, "Scyth" [sIT] is the people and "Scythia" [siTija] the nation.
> In general, "sc" before a front vowel is /s/ in English, although a
> few words have adopted a spelling pronunciation.  One of the shibboleths
> is "schism", which is traditionally [sIzm] but now usually pronounced
> [skIzm] by people who have read it before they heard it.
Surely this is not a spelling pronunciation. That would be /stSIzm/, surely,
which is not used. Rather, /sIzm/ has the authority of tradition, while
/skIzm/ has the authority of regularity. /SIzm/ is the one we ought to be
complaining about. Curiously, not many people say /@stSu:/ for _eschew_;
many say /@Su:/, presumably on the grounds that a funny looking word
can't possibly be pronounced the way it's spelt.

Mind you, lots of funny stuff goes on with SC, doesn't it. As far as I
can see, _sceptic_ should be so spelt, and pronounced /septIk/. As
with <skeleton>, I spell it <skeptic>, so as to have an etymologically irregular
spelling mirror the pronunication and its etymological
irregularity.

> Sometimes /S/ is used instead, as in "schedule" /SEdjul/; in America this
> is /skEdZ@l/.
I don't understand anything about this one. Why the <h>? Why /sk/? Why /S/?

> It is said that Eisenhower was talking to Montgomery about /skedZ@lz/,
> until Monty asked "Where did you learn to pronounce /SEdjul/ like that?"
> Ike replied, "In grammar /Sul/."
One usually supposes these stories to be invented (e.g. Margot Asquith
& Jean Harlow - "Margo[t]" "No the T is silent, as in 'Harlow'"), but
I can imagine Montgomery perpetrating such arseholery.
What I admire most about Eisenhower is his forbearance with the
insufferable Montgomery, which strikes me as a kind of metonymic
encapsulation of the relationship between their two countries.

Ray:
> Using a sickle is back-breaking work; but the scythe with its long wooden
> 'handle' (I'm sure there's a technical term for it, but it eludes me) is
> much easier.  Actually its handles [sic] are short;
I'm disappointed that none of the myriad pedants on this list have posted
what the name for the handle is. It's going to nag at me until I find
the answer.

> they are attached to
> the 'long wooden bit' and if you get the balance & rhythm right, it's quite
> easy to use.
Scars on my ankles tell that while it may be quite easy to use if you get the
balance & rhythm right, it's very hard to get the balance and rhythm right.

--And.