Klarinet Archive - Posting 000922.txt from 2000/04

From: "W. Edinger" <wde1@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] hey, what is this flute thread doing here?
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2000 08:03:56 -0400

Karel Vahala wrote:

"Unless North American english spelling of this word is different,
people
playing the flute are FLAUTISTS, _not_ flutists."

I beg to strongly differ. "Flautist" (often painfully pronounced
"flawtist") is not any form of English at all, North American or
otherwise; it is a German word for someone who plays "die Flaute," and
pronounced "floutist." The English word for a flute player is a
flutist. Sorry, but "flawtist" sounds sophomoric and affected to me,
like "PEE-a-nist" instead of "pee-AN-ist" (which makes me think of a
joke I'm too modest to repeat here).

Now I know that some outraged individuals reading this at this moment
will insist that "PEE-a-nist" and "flawtist" are perfectly correct and
"proper" and "sophisticated" and all that, and I suspect that these
people also pronounce the plural of "process" as "proe-suss-EEZE" too
and other such abominations. To shamelessly borrow from Dan Leeson, I
say FEH! to you (whatever that means).

Thank goodness the word "clarinet" can't be abused that way.

Priggishly (and not entirely seriously) yours,

Bill Edinger

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