PROPOSAL: -acea; -aceae; -aceous

[David Orlovich]

you guys can discuss this ad nauseum, but I'm always going to say
Myrtaceae as Mer-tay-see till the day I die - 'cause basically it sounds
weird to me any other way ... and at conferences I can laugh at those
strange Europeans who say North-o-far-goos, and they can laugh at me
when I say Noth-a-fay-gus ... what's it matter?  The French don't spread
vegemite on croissants in the pursuit of cultural uniformity just as I
don't toast croissants to spread my vege... oh hang on, yes I do ... oh
well.

Cheers, David Orlovich.


On Wednesday, June 26, 2002, at 03:08  PM, Ken Kinman wrote:

> Dear All,
>     As I stated before, I try to examine all possible pronunciations,
> and
> follow a middle course.  I therefore propose that the "-ce" in the
> botanical
> family ending be pronounced "she" as in:
>    Cetacea (suh-TAY-she-a)
>    Cretaceous (cre-TAY-she-us)
>    herbaceous (er-BAY-she-us).
> What do you think?
>          -----  Cheers,  Ken
>
> P.S.     But even if this standard pronunciation (for the penultimate
> syllable) was found to be agreeable, there is still no consensus on the
> pronunciation of the final -ae.  Family Poaceae could be:
>  Po-AY-she-AY
>  Po-AY-she-EE
>  Po-AY-she-EYE
> or my preference Po-AY-she-AYEE.
>     I still think a literal pronunciation of the diphthong -AYEE would
> be
> best, because (1) it is close to the other three alternatives, and (2)
> it
> would obviously be easy to teach and learn, since one would literally be
> saying the letters (at least in English).
>
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Dr David Orlovich,
Ecology, Conservation and Biodiversity Research Group,
Department of Botany,
The University of Otago
PO Box 56,
Dunedin, New Zealand.

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