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You can change the spelling of one word in the English language to match how they are pronounced. What word do you pick? (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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I'm picking "Colonel" needs to be respelled to match how it's pronounced.

Try to pick a word no one else has picked. What word are you respelling?

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[โ€“] 21 points 3 years ago (6 children)

"Arkansas" and "Kansas" are both from the Osage language, but the former passed through French on its way to English.

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  • [โ€“] 6 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    i'm from somewhere in europe and always wondered why you guys would pronounce those two so different!

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  • [โ€“] 5 points 3 years ago

    America has a lot of place names that come from Native American / First Nations languages; but they also come via different European languages.

    And some of those names are actually words that refer to a different Native group. "Arkansas" and "Kansas" are from the Osage word for the Quapaw people. The name of the Snake River between Oregon and Idaho is a translation of the name that Plains people used to refer to the Shoshone: they were the "snake people" and that wasn't a compliment.

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