In this latest Lebanese crisis, I've noticed that every Israeli spokesman has made a really big deal out of the name of their Arch-Enemies, taking every opportunity to emphasize the 'H' with a heavy gutteral sound . . . . it got me wondering about whether this is some sort of in-joke, maybe it matches an expression of contempt by mimicing the sound of someone hawking up a looger, or even that it might be an offensive pun in Arabic.
Hezbollah have been around for a while now, and I've never heard anyone pronouncing it in this way before. So out of interest, I checked it on Google, and yes, Hezbollah is meant to be pronounced by emphasing either the SECOND or THIRD syllables. But I don't yet know whether this is an insult or not.
I don't like this attempt to coerce me onto a particular side using this contemporary Shibboleth, the Old Testament proudly tells us that 42,000 Ephraimites were slaughtered by the tribe of Gilead because this word identified them — nice.
Its not PROnunciation, its ANTInunciation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2006/07/today_s_pronunciation_hezbo.html
http://upyernoz.blogspot.com/2006/07/blog-post.html
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives/2006/07/post_4.php
1 comment:
You may be on to something here. My first thought is, there must be something racist. Oppressors seem to speak and do without much moral thought.
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