Five Factoids

Yep, your Fio is a delicate flower. As she confessed to you yesterday, she does not fare well in hot weather. Neither, she wants you to know, does Sonia dog. Poor baby follows Fio out the door, then, five minutes later, barks to be let inside again. Mastiffs aren't designed for Texas summers.
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Three words that Fiorella wants newscasters to memorize the pronunciation of: realtor, nuclear, and athletic. They are NOT re-la-ter, nu-cyu-ler, and a-tha-letic.
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Every life hangs by a thread. Anything can happen any minute, no matter your age, your health, or how careful you are. Fate is fate.
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The way one says "Good morning" in the Nigerian dialect that Tosin at the Verizon store speaks is "e-k-a-a-r-o," which is pronounced like a rainbow. starting at a lower pitch, rising in the middle, and settling at the end. Fio would have loved to have studied a pitch language at some time in her life, but maybe there's still time after she learns Spanish, reviews her Russian, and picks up Telugu again. And then there's her Latin that she'd like to renew, and her German, Fio's study of which was cut short after ein semester. Oops, she didn't mention the French, which she passed a reading a exam on long ago, but which she never did learn how to speak.
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Surely the circus act in DC cannot continue much longer.

A Blessing!

Fiorella visited the bank again yesterday so now she knows how to say "thank you" in Arabic:  shukrahn:  The first syllable is pronounced like English "shook" and the second syllable is pronounced like the nickname for Ronald except that the "r" is rolled.

Fio is in ecstasy!  God is good!

Namastee

I'm hearing namastee a lot these days.  It's quite stylish.  The origin of the Hindi greeting has a spiritual significance, but it's a common greeting in India, and doesn't guarantee the person who utters it isn't going to cut your throat two seconds later.

But that's neither here nor there.  What Fio wants to do is teach you how to pronounce namastee so she doesn't grit her teeth and cut your throat herself.

Listen up, people!  It's not nah-mah-stay, but nuh-mus-stay!  The "a's" are schwas and rhyme with "huh."  They are Hindi's "short a's." (The "long a" in Hindi rhymes with "la" and is indicated by doubling the letter:  "aa.")

The reason for the two "e's" on the end of namastee is that it indicates the vowel is long and should rhyme with "stay".  (The short "e" in Hindi is the same "e" as in "led.")

Oh, and the "t" is soft, like in Spanish.

Ochcha!