Interesting, Mujus, because I don't say 'ae' for 'i'. I don't add the 'e' sound to the end and it isn't really the 'ah' sound in it. Maybe thats due to my choral training where you say a vowel and stretch it if it is held, not getting to a consonant to early (avoid hissing that way) and not altering the vowel (avoiding things like why becoming waheeeeeeeeeeeee) so therefore I just have a slightly different pronunciation for it.

Now you have me thinking... And I say the second 'u' in usual as 'oo' not 'you'. so for me it's 'you-zhoo-ahl'.

As far as things I learned in High School, well physics and it's mathematical relationships especially with calculus as well as other mathematics and sciences top my list. But then that and music was the focus of my high school education as they were my desired career paths.

there are other wargames which are good for your geography..

i know of towns in Poland because of heart's of Iron two, and i think playing Risk greatly improved my world geography...

Oh and I love German, although my German is a little weak. I learned enough to get around, order meals at non-touristy restaurants (where they don't speak English) and not look like a complete dork at the market buying food for breakfast when I spent several weeks there on business at my company's Gasthaus in '06.

I had studied German in high school and college, but when I was in a grad program at the U of Arizona there was a well-known teacher there who taught "Problems of Teaching German" and I signed up to see what I could learn from her--and it was only then that I learned that vowel length is phonemic in German. And my last year of my French BA was the first time I learned that there are three (!) French mid-vowels, in contrast with the English one (/uh/), and was shocked by that fact. But Draugnar, I would be interested to hear how you pronounce the "long i" sound. There are definitely two components. And you are correct about "usual": the way you pronounce it is a standard variant, interchangeable and very common, due to a phonetic phenomenon called assimilation, which means that your "u" becomes more like the sound "z" that precedes it, palatalizing the /y/ to /zh/.

Obviously linguistics and phonetics are you field of expertise. I pronounce my 'i's much like the sound of 'ei' in German but with what you would call the first part of the dipthing flowing straight into then 'n' in say 'Stein'. If there is any 'e' in it, it is very very brief as my mouth closes on the 'n'. Think 'ah', but pull back the corners of the mouth into a smile of sorts. It pinches the 'ah' a bit and alters the timber. So when I say 'why', 'hi', or 'eye/I' there is no 'e' at the end as I cut my breath short before moving onto the next sound. Listen to Madonna sing 'die' in 'Die Another Day' and you'll get the feel for how I pronounce my 'i's. It is also very similar to how native Hawaiians say the first 'i' in Hawaii (Hu wa i ee).

Hmmm, southern U.S.?

Raised in Ohio, but born in Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia to a native Virginian and a sailor from Tennessee.

I was pretty sure I "heard" the southern dialect flat /æ/ sound coming through your very good description of how you say the sound.

You probably have the ability to switch back and forth from mid-western pronunciation to southern-influenced pronunciation.

Pretty much. Orange can be "or an j" or "oeenj" for instance. And my dad worked hard to not have a hillbilly accent like his "kin" so much of my accent is a non-accent.

LOL Santa...

"So, I tutored my 4th grade kid today...and I have now lost any and all faith I might have had left in public shooling."

Get that kid in a private school if possible, obi.

Sure, I'll send him to a private school...

Just as soon as *I* can afford a private college. ;)

There's always homeschooling.

OH NO...

I hate to play the stereotype card, Mujus:

But HOMESCHOOLING is where a lot of our, ahem, "alternative theories of science," such as Creatio--erm, I mean, "Intelligent Design" are taught the most and take root...

:/

Yeah private schools, because those teachers are all certified...oh wait. Behind every reactionary political view, there is usually some superficial anecdotal bs story that is used to justify it.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Obi has a kid.

son of beach...

was suppose to say WOW very long ....wtf

"Obi has a kid."

That explains it...no wonder we have nutcase politicians.

It does. You did it so long it has a scroll bar at the bottom of the div and screwed up the home page. Way to go fucktard! :-)

@Gobble - I think the kid is a big brother/sister kind of thing. A mentoring program. Although I've always pictured Obi as a little dude with an attitude. I've known of few of them in my time. So that would make Obi the little brother, being shorter than the 4th grader and all. :-)

But the Classic Diplomacy map does not mention either England/Britain, Italy, Germany or France by name. It would be good to start, but who would know where Germany is from the map alone ?

Re: Homeschooling

A kid who has proper language skills and believes in creationism is more useful to society than a kid who thinks P is a vowel but believes in evolution.

@ Putin33

An unqualified teacher that has excellent language skills is better than the *qualified* teacher that obi described above.

@gunfighter, that depends on what you define as 'useful to society'.

If you are expected to be a drone and have no input into what direction society progresses and to simply do a job which requires some english writing and comprehension, then sure.

If however you expect members of society to take part in discussion and an understanding of what should be done, then i think you'll find an understanding of evolution is less of a hindrance than a belief in creationism.

There are people will excellent "skills" of many sorts who nonetheless can't teach. It's one thing to be able to write correctly, it's another to be able to explain how to write correctly. Contrary to popular belief, teaching is itself a skill.

Ironically you're part of the same crowd who keeps claiming teaching standards are too low, and uncertified teachers don't seem to bother you.

Now you're stereotyping homeschoolers. But I happen to believe in creation--I just don't know the mechanism that God used to bring it about, and that's what science is all about: unriddling the wonderful mysteries of God's creation.

Not you, Putin: Obi. And now I see that he admitted it in advance. lol!

Orathaic, I suspect you believe in evolution because someone told you that's what open-minded people believe, not like those close-minded superstitious religionists who just believe what people tell them. Oh wait...! heh

Orathaic didn't deserve that. But I can't quite decide whether to retract it or to apply it more widely. lol