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Old 06-16-2021, 11:36 AM   #92
troutman
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Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Crowsnest Pass
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz View Post
Anyone who spells safety with a X is going to have to work really hard for my business...
X is used this way in the Yucatan Peninsula :

https://yucatanliving.com/daily-life...-for-beginners

Quote:
The story goes that when the Spaniards arrived, they heard the Native Americans using an unfamiliar sound, namely “sh”. Since there was no such sound in Spanish, they represented it with the letter “X”. This caused all sorts of misunderstandings.

In Yucatec Mayan, “X” is pronounced like “ish” at the beginning of words signifying the female gender and like “sh” anywhere else. It tends to sound very soft, like the “sh” in “slush”. So,
  • The Mayan Archaeological zone of Uxmal is pronounced OOSH-mahl.
  • The Yucatan Fair in X’matkuil is pronounced ish-MAHT-koo-eel

Last edited by troutman; 06-16-2021 at 11:39 AM.
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