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- Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
- Path: sparky!uunet!pipex!gate.demon.co.uk!demon!gtoal
- From: gtoal@pizzabox.demon.co.uk (Graham Toal)
- Subject: Re: Xmas in Beijing
- Message-ID: <BzqvLE.6J4@demon.co.uk>
- Sender: news@demon.co.uk
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pizzabox.demon.co.uk
- Organization: Cuddlehogs Anonymous
- References: <20200.2b383abb@ul.ie>
- Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 03:41:37 GMT
- Lines: 20
-
- In article <20200.2b383abb@ul.ie> mckeonj@ul.ie writes:
- :Just for fun at Xmas time, a definition:
- :A native English speaker is one who cannot, or will not,
- :pronounce the guttural H.
- :He will use all kinds of substitutes, writing and saying
- :X CH J KH GH and so on.
- :Ask "why?". The answer is interesting, and serves also to
- :explain why 13 is unlucky.
- :I will post more if required.
-
- I haven't heard this one, but let me take a wild stab at it...
- it's something to do with
- 1) how many people were at the last supper
- 2) the pronunciation of the greek version of Jesus Christos
- 3) God's being an Englishman ?
-
- G
- PS I'm a native English speaker and can pronounce \guttural H perfectly.
- (And do, frequently. Though in fact the sound you're probably thinking
- of strictly isn't a guttural, unless pronounced by a drunken Gleswegian)
-