RTP-area local music and culture

[Duncan Murrell <dvmurrell AT nc.rr.com>]

On Jul 14, 2004, at 1:37 PM, Nathaniel Florin wrote:

> --- Doctor Oakroot <doctor AT doctoroakroot.com> wrote:
> > That depends on whether you're speaking classical
> > Greek or modern English :o)

When I took ancient Greek (got a C-, I sucked at it), there were two 
native speakers of modern Greek in the class who took exception to the 
pronunciation of many words we were learning, some of which they 
recognized in some form. This prompted my professor to observe that no 
one really knows how ancient Greek was spoken, that most of the 
pronunciation guides were written by tweedy Oxbridge Brits who did a 
lot of guessing, and that there were only two reasons for trying to 
speak words and sentences:  as an aid to memorizing words, and to get 
some idea of the rhythm of Hellenic speech.

My professor chain-smoked and on occasion had a beer while reciting 
long passages. He wore a Clash-meets-My-Aim-Is-True-era-Costello outfit 
constantly. (No coat, t-shirt rolled to the anterior deltoid, Costello 
from the neck up and the waist down.) Maybe he shouldn't have been 
trusted.

d