Quoting Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...>:
> On Saturday, January 3, 2004, at 12:46 PM, Tristan McLeay wrote:
> >> I've seen
> >> **Al-Quaeda with vomit-inducing frequency the last few years, and the
> >> Chinese
> >
> > IME, if they put a <u> in, they're going to get something else wrong
> > too,
> > and make something like **Al Quida.
> > Tristan
>
> I'm way too snobbish about that... ever since hearing the name
> [alqA:3Ida] in Arabic class a few years ago, every attempted
> pronunciation (even the relatively good ones) grates on my ears.
I guess I just got my answer as to why the "ae" ...
But then I wonder why TV people etc here aren't saying [al'kA:ida] or similar
rather than [al'kajda].
> In college, i remember seeing an anti-war protest where the protesters
> were chanting slogans like "no war in EYE-RACK!". It took a Lot of
> self-control to not go over and say "yo, if you care so much about
> [3IrA:q], at least TRY to say their name properly!"
>
> (/3/ = `ayin, as usual)
A case could be made that /ajr&k/ is a perfectly legimate English name of the
place; I suppose you're not wanting "France" pronounced [fRãs]?
Andreas