Dear all,

That was a nice story, Lynn, only it will work only in the US. Being in
Australia, I already find it hard to understand what Americans are on about
when they talk about shells, just fancy how somebody from Hungary (or any
non-English speaking country for that matter)  is supposed to understand.

Unfortunately, in the times of the Romans and the Greeks, there were no
tape recorders, and if any of those ancient Greeks or Romans were ever to
travel to our times in a time machine, he'd probably have a fit laughing at
how we are trying to pronounce the words (and we've probably unknowlingly
have created a few combinations that in their eyes would have been - hum -
rather rude).

So I just re-iterate what everybody has said: there is no right way to
pronounce things, so there's no point in arguing over pronunciation either.
Just remember that pronunciation will vary tremendously depending on what
part of the world you are in. At least the written name should always make
sense.

Patty
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