The Great Emu War happened in 1932, but there's a new one raging on the internet over how you pronounce the bird's name. Americans tend to pronounce it ee-moo, and National Public Radio declared it an acceptable pronunciation. However, Australians did not take kindly to the action, as they pronounce it ee-mew. It's the difference in the pronunciation of the words moot and mute. The Guardian stepped into the middle to declare both wrong.
The Portuguese word “ema” was originally used to refer to a cassowary, and may be based on an Arabic word meaning “big bird”. The word was likely brought to Australasia by early colonial explorers.
“This is pretty typical of English which is just absolutely chock-full of words that are borrowed from languages from all over the world,” Enfield said.
“We mangle it to a more comfortable pronunciation for our own language and, you know, then just takes off.”
So it seems both the Aussies and Yanks are guilty of brutalising the bird’s name to suit their lazy anglo accents.
Well, I guess that settles it. Or maybe not. -via Damn Interesting
(Image credit: Calistemon)