The a and the o
Heros and Zeros
Only one letter, but what a difference it makes.
The French, in their infinite sagesse, have decreed that in the language of Moliere, there shall be two types of h's, just to avoid this particular confusion.
You see, there is an h called muet, or mute, which makes no sound at all when uttered 'en francais'.
For one to exist, there, of course, must be the other - thanks to Camus and his humanistic existentialism, for whom we are all grateful - and so to preserve the balance with the h called muet, there is an other h, called aspire, or aspirated.
This aspirated h, like its cousin, the mute, makes no sound at all when uttered in French, yet is endowed with a capacity which it's poor mutely silent relative the mute h does not have.
The aspirated h cannot be used to make a liaison, that funny French trick of pronouncing certain final letters of words only when they can be linked to a vowel which begins the subsequent word. So, for example, the aspirated h is used in 'un haricot' (u arico) and 'des hariots' (day arico), that is 'one bean' or 'some beans'.
The mute h, in contrast, can be easily overwhelmed by the preceding consonant. For example as in 'un homme' (oe num) and 'des hommes' (de zum), that is 'a man' or 'some men'. The s in des becomes a z and is used to link the pronoun des to the noun hommes, producing the sound 'dayzum' - some men.
However, with a word like le heros, hero, in French, there is a terrible risk of turning a statement completely on its head by being unaware of the difference between the mute and the aspirated letter h when speaking.
Without the knowledge of the aspirated h beginning the word 'le heros' (le ero) and 'des heros' (day ero), one would be tempted to create an improper liaison between the plural pronoun 'des' and the plural noun 'heros' which when pronounced would sound exactly like 'day zero' - that is, 'des zeros' or some zeros.
Whereby my heros become zeros and I am so sad because a man who loves and protected me and never abused me is dying of cancer and it has spread to his brain.
I love DeWitt for what he did and didn't do. He is a real hero and to be confused by a single letter like that can make a mockery of truth and the beauty of the human spirit.
Joke?
Merci beaucoup, mes amis. This is the only way I know how to say this right now.
Danny
Only one letter, but what a difference it makes.
The French, in their infinite sagesse, have decreed that in the language of Moliere, there shall be two types of h's, just to avoid this particular confusion.
You see, there is an h called muet, or mute, which makes no sound at all when uttered 'en francais'.
For one to exist, there, of course, must be the other - thanks to Camus and his humanistic existentialism, for whom we are all grateful - and so to preserve the balance with the h called muet, there is an other h, called aspire, or aspirated.
This aspirated h, like its cousin, the mute, makes no sound at all when uttered in French, yet is endowed with a capacity which it's poor mutely silent relative the mute h does not have.
The aspirated h cannot be used to make a liaison, that funny French trick of pronouncing certain final letters of words only when they can be linked to a vowel which begins the subsequent word. So, for example, the aspirated h is used in 'un haricot' (u arico) and 'des hariots' (day arico), that is 'one bean' or 'some beans'.
The mute h, in contrast, can be easily overwhelmed by the preceding consonant. For example as in 'un homme' (oe num) and 'des hommes' (de zum), that is 'a man' or 'some men'. The s in des becomes a z and is used to link the pronoun des to the noun hommes, producing the sound 'dayzum' - some men.
However, with a word like le heros, hero, in French, there is a terrible risk of turning a statement completely on its head by being unaware of the difference between the mute and the aspirated letter h when speaking.
Without the knowledge of the aspirated h beginning the word 'le heros' (le ero) and 'des heros' (day ero), one would be tempted to create an improper liaison between the plural pronoun 'des' and the plural noun 'heros' which when pronounced would sound exactly like 'day zero' - that is, 'des zeros' or some zeros.
Whereby my heros become zeros and I am so sad because a man who loves and protected me and never abused me is dying of cancer and it has spread to his brain.
I love DeWitt for what he did and didn't do. He is a real hero and to be confused by a single letter like that can make a mockery of truth and the beauty of the human spirit.
Joke?
Merci beaucoup, mes amis. This is the only way I know how to say this right now.
Danny
