http://blog.oup.com/2007/05/etymology/ Academic insights for the thinking world. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:14:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://blog.oup.com/2007/05/etymology/comment-page-1/#comment-16343 Lukas Reck Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:24:37 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/2007/05/etymology/#comment-16343 Isn't cacophony derived from Greek κακός (bad, unpleasant, evil, ugly)? Isn’t cacophony derived from Greek κακός (bad, unpleasant, evil, ugly)?

]]> http://blog.oup.com/2007/05/etymology/comment-page-1/#comment-7647 Paul Peterson Sat, 02 Jun 2007 21:38:44 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/2007/05/etymology/#comment-7647 This is why when I ask my daughter if she wants a cookie, I always use the Swedish plural (Vill du ha några kakor min kär?). However, in Modern Swedish the vowel is long and becomes closer to the pronunciation of caulk [cawk], so that it sounds half way between long o and long a. It's easier to understand the dissimilarity if one pronounces caca with two short a's, regardless, cake is delicious even if (when pronounced as written) it does mean poop. This is why when I ask my daughter if she wants a cookie, I always use the Swedish plural (Vill du ha några kakor min kär?). However, in Modern Swedish the vowel is long and becomes closer to the pronunciation of caulk [cawk], so that it sounds half way between long o and long a. It’s easier to understand the dissimilarity if one pronounces caca with two short a’s, regardless, cake is delicious even if (when pronounced as written) it does mean poop.

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