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On & Off-ghanistan. What's With The New Pronunciation?
Has anyone else noticed the bizarre and relatively new pronunciation of Afghanistan that I'm hearing more and more often in the last few days? Rahim Ladhani of CTV is just one of many on-air types who now seem to constantly say "Off-ghanistan" during their coverage of this unfolding tragedy.
I've never heard it said this way, despite all the years of the U.S. and Canada's presence in the war torn nation.
Yet other reporters still say the more traditional "AF-ghanistan." And protestors who have family there also use the "Af-" pronunciation. Sometimes I hear both versions in the same newscast. Did I miss a change from the Canadian Press in how to correctly say this county's name? If not, where is this coming from? Am I the only one hearing this?
- mace
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Re: On & Off-ghanistan. What's With The New Pronunciation?
I have a British co-worker who calls that black and white striped animal a ze-bra instead of a zee-bra. I always remind him that he is putting the emPHAsis on the wrong syLLAble.
- echomaster
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Re: On & Off-ghanistan. What's With The New Pronunciation?
My Iranian pal, with accent, calls it OFF-ghanistan.
Maybe Rahim's parents speak with accents and he's referring to memory.
Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs...
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- Fitz
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Re: On & Off-ghanistan. What's With The New Pronunciation?
The two main languages in Afghanistan are are Pashto and Persian. Both are from the Indo-European language tree and are distantly related to English. Pushto is also the main language spoken in the North West Frontier province of Pakistan and the people there are closely related to their Afghan neighbors.
The new pronunciation you hear is closer to the correct pronunciation spoken in the region. Broadcasters especially those that are from the region are now trying to say the name correctly. Barrack Obama tried to pronounce Pakistan correctly and he did a better job at it than most in the west. Same thing is now happening with Afghanistan.
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- Fitz
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Re: On & Off-ghanistan. What's With The New Pronunciation?
Here's a segment from the PBS News Hour hosted by Amna Nawaz who is from Pakistan and also features an Afghan woman and both pronounce the name of the country properly:
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- Fitz
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Re: On & Off-ghanistan. What's With The New Pronunciation?
A correction to my post above Amna Nawaz is not from Pakistan but rather of Pakistani origin. Her parents were born in Pakistan but she was born in Virginia. Nevertheless she does pronounce the name correctly and it should be pointed out that the correct pronunciation is not OF but the accent on the A is different at the beginning and on the "tan"
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- RadioActive
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Re: On & Off-ghanistan. What's With The New Pronunciation?
I think my original point - which I didn't really explain correctly - is that each station should decide how to pronounce the country's name, so they're all on the same page. As it is, I hear both versions in the same newscast. Pick a version and everyone should use it.
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