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From: tebbutt@RHINO.NCSL.NIST.GOV (John Tebbutt)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.iso.dev-environ
Subject: Re: How do you pronounce "quipu" ?
Message-ID: <8912181805.AA23621@rhino.ncsl.nist.gov>
Date: 18 Dec 89 18:05:17 GMT
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Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
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>I think if you were to consult a dictionary, you would find something like:
>       _    __
>      ke - poo

But what kind of dictionary ? The pronunciation given by a dictionary is almost
bound to be anglicized, hispanicized, or whatever, according to the 
enunciational proclivities of the culture which produced it. Hence such 
oratorial manglings as "ron-day-voo" and "oat coo-chore" for the French
"rendezvous" and "haute couture". Thus, an English or Spanish dictionary just
will not do in this case, and even a dictionary of the ancient Inca language
(known to scholars as "malapproprian") suffers from related flaws : very few 
people can read it, for a start. What is needed in this case is first hand
experience of the language, as spoken by the people.

My wizened old Peruvian piano teacher swears she is almost ancient enough to 
qualify as an Inca, and whenever I mention ISODE to her, her face wrinkles up,
her dear old eyes twinkle, and she shrieks 
	
			KWY-pee-ow-UH !

and launches into a spirited but rather shaky rendition of "The Yellow Rose of
Texas".

Now that we've cleared that up, I trust that the ISODE (meaning "small pouch 
fashioned from the bladder of a prairie dog, used to carry secret personal 
caches of Tabasco sauce" and pronounced "EE-zo-DAY" by the ancient Aztecs)
documentation will be amended to reflect the correct pronunciation. |-)  B^)

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all !


			JT