[Allen Tice]

"boo-stroh-FEE-don", with a light accent on syllable one.

Ι ωιλλ νοω ωριτε αν ΕΡΙΚ ωιθ θατ ας ιτ'ς τιτλε ανδ νεχτ το λαςτ ωορδ. Στανδ βαςκ & ωατςΗ.

[John Isbell]

Allen, your sigma isn't aspirated?
No a/c here in Europe. Can't sleep in this heat.

Cheers,
John

[Erik Olson]

Originally Posted by John Isbell

No a/c here in Europe. Can't sleep in this heat.

I have been wondering, how is it that seemingly every other post of yours comes from some new country or other or continent? If I did not know any better, I would have taken you for an international airline pilot ever on the move. You are lucky, in any case. I have more pages in my passbook than my passport but I wish it were the reverse.

[John Isbell]

Hi Erik, I have a nephew actually who’s an airline pilot. My wife and I are teaching study abroad this summer. Exhausting but fun.

Cheers,
John

[Ann Drysdale]

Thanks, everyone. I now know what I’m going to do. I have gathered a basketful of advice and wisdom from here and from Facebook and am grateful to everyone. Chris Childers and Alicia Stallings have added their advice and John Psaropoulos, too. The upshot? I can go with my instinct without abusing my freedom.

What I wanted was what “you” would “say”, and I was aware that ancient and modern Greek are very different beasts. The shadow across the page was a memory of an edition of a long-running wireless programme here in the UK, called “In Our Time”, whose host, Melvyn Bragg, presents himself as a sort of honest Everyman, asking expert opinions on “deep” or historically controversial subjects. In one edition they addressed the subject of the Soul and the poet Ruth Padel kept mentioning the “Psoo-hay” and MB felt the need to ask if she might not say “Sykie” like the rest of us.

The programme is broadcast in the morning as a live 45 minute discussion and this is edited down to 30 for an evening repeat. The podcasts are also 30. I have a feeling Melvyn’s tetchy prod will not have been preserved, but I will never forget hearing it and the resolve I made that day.

Bless you all.

[Edmund Conti]

Ah, the "psoo-hay" and the "sykie." Do I dare to say "Pee-seeche"?

[Ann Drysdale]

Oh, Ed - behave yourself! Roll up your trouser-bottoms and listen out for mermaids (hee hee).

Time now, for this to slide gracefully out of sight.