Catchin' Some (micro)Waves

image courtesy of Digest This blog, which includes facts about microwave safety

"Energy officials are urging the public to conserve power -- especially from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. when demand is highest. Cordova suggests people refrain from washing clothes or doing dishes during those times. Moreover, he recommends folks cook dinner in the microwave -- instead of their stove or oven -- to avoid filling their homes with heat."

This summer, Central Texas has been experiencing record heat and record energy usage. And this is what they come up with? "Use the microwave folks!" (Ironically, I left this post for a few minutes to get a cup of HOT coffee from HEAT-generating coffee maker and we had a brown out! Seriously?!)

Derriengue

This is the word that will haunt 13-year-old Neetu Chandak for the rest of her life. She misspelled it during the National Spelling Bee Championship finals. But, if the word was pronounced as it should have been, with it's Spanish root, rolled double "rr," would she have gotten it right? The announcer even pointed out the lack of rolled "rr" in their pronunciation of derriengue, but dismissed it as an Anglicized form of the word. Really? It seemed like there were an abundance of French words in this round: blancmange, baignoire, Neufchâtel, and they were all pronounced with French gusto, er, flaire. I would think the "American" pronunciation of Neufchâtel would include a hard, audible "F." Same with the "C" in blancmange. Maybe the announcer was just using "Anglicized" as a euphemism for "lazy."

And what of all the Spanish-speaking newscasters who have no accent whatsoever, until they come to a Spanish word, at which point it's like we've switched gears, to Telemundo? But it's still Anglicized news, right? By these standards Cesar Chavez Street should be "See-zir Chavez," not "Say-czar." It will be interesting to see what is considered "Anglicized" pronunciation in a few years, if we continue on this bilingual route, in states with large Hispanic populations. Speaking of, what ever happened to Esperanto? Has that ever taken off?