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Re: Political Correctness

A bit o' trivia

> I was not aware of this usage of the term 'Kaffir', which I instead
> thought (perhaps naively) to a region or territory.

"kaffir" comes from an arabic word that means "Infidel."  It's also the
same root KaFaRa used in the words kufr and kofur, meaning curse. 

> BTW - the genus name is in honor of a Lord and Lady Clive, so it
> should be pronounced 'Clive-ia' (long 'i', sounds like Ivy) rather
> than the common mis-spoken 'Cliv-ia' (short 'i', sounds like Nivea).

ACtually, :) you get to choose whether you want to go the latin route or
the native-pronunciation-with-latin-ending route; both are acceptable and
people tend to take the choice that works best with their own language and
sounds "right."  So Michauxia will usually be pronounced "Mi-SHOW-ee-a". 
But what will the average american do with Ligularia przewalskii?  Most
will say "per-ze-WAL-ski-eye" because most have no idea how to pronounce
the polish "rz", and finding that it is like "sh" doesn't help much. :)
But I the former slavics person automatically find myself saying
"pshe-WALL-ski-eye" and hearing people say either "huh" or "gezundheit."

While I'm ranting (well not really) here, let me harp on one common
mispronunciation that really *is* 100% wrong (and drives me up the wall):
pronouncing "Anemone" as "a-NEN-o-me".  No!  Nein!  Nyet!  :) 
"Anemone" comes from the Greek word "Anemos," (wind).  As in animus (same
root).  It's a-NEM-o-ne.  Incidently, if you have gotten this far and your
eyes are not glazed over, the "real" greek pronunciation of this word (as
in how your average Joe in Athens says it) is "ah-ne-MO-ni"

I'm tired now.  Time to go hit the hay!

Bob
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