Kou wrote:
>/nIk@rA:gju@/ sounds distinctly British (BBC) to my ears. Too, the car
>"Jaguar" pronounced à la britannique sounds like /dZ&gju@/. Just
yesterday,
>there was an ad on the local classical music station where they started
with
>a Brit extolling the virtues of /dZ&gju@/ craftsmanship. Then on came the
>local New England Jag dealer going on about how great /dZ&gju@z/ were...
Yes. Aargh. CNBC (the stock market channel, back when I could get it) used
to carry ads for Mercedes [m@r_ts_edis]. So elegant.
>Back in the day, I more often heard /pOrto/ (/porto/?). Perhaps due to the
>growing Hispanic population or greater sensitivity or both, /pwErto/ seems
>to have gained/be gaining currency in this neck of the woods.
Yes, it's encouraging.