Re: Re: phonetic pronunciation

Edmundas;

 

            I am 59 years old and have been gardening all of my life. I can not say for sure because I have no reference to refer to, but at some point during my early life I can remember plant names being pronounced in a more classical Latin or European manner. I then seem to remember that at some point there was two schools of thought in the USA. One that retained the more classical approach and one that tried to Americanize the pronunciation. Lately it seems that the latter is winning. Personally I sort of prefer the former. I have to admit that I find it difficult to say eeeris instead of eyeris, but I fully recognize that that the latter would be more accepted everywhere accept England and USA. I think it is laudable for people to try to pronounce plant names in such a way that they are most easily understood by the people to which one is speaking. I can remember article in the not too distant past demanding that words be pronounced in a certain way. I am not sympathetic to that
 hard of a line. I do think it is worth trying to make an attempt to utilize some knowledge of Latin and I  dont believe we should give up on any attempt to present an educated pronunciation. I tried very hard when I was in Rome at an Iris conference, to say eeeris to my Italian friends and Eyeris to my English friends, but I have to admit it took some concentration. 

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