Someone wrote about the pronunciation of 'Clivia': >With honourifics, we have the problem of not really knowing how the name was >pronounced. Is Clive with a long "I", as typical for a first name, or is it >the variant sounded like "ee". One thing is for certain, it is NOT short >"I". > It's not??????? Of course it is. You understood EXACTLY what plant she was talking about, didn't you? Was exchanging information about clivias the purpose of your conversation, or was it her desire to be impressed by your knowledge of how Mr. Clive pronounced his name? I hope she said to herself "What can I do to comfort my friend? Oh, yes, I'll ask him how HE pronounces it." I hope she then actually said "Oh dear, I've always wanted to know the correct way to pronounce that! You've really made my day. Thank you so much!"' But are you sure she was impressed by your superior knowledge? Or did she wonder about your toilet training (as surely you -- and everyone else -- must be wondering about mine)? What on earth is it that impels us to correct others? It does require a certain amount of inner security and self-confidence to adopt someone else's pronunciation -- no matter how outlandish you may think it is -- without batting an eye, or pausing to catch your breath, and, above all, without giving her a clue that -- once you're out of earshot -- you're going to continue using your own utterly superior pronunciation. The trick is not to wince, or swallow hard, as you adopt your partner's barbarism. You don't want to risk having her think you a snobbish linguistic terrorist, as some thug once described -- on PBS yet! -- those who publicly bemoan the pronunciational idiosyncrasies of others. Bite your tongue (totally unobtrusively) and let her believe you to be swaven deboner, two traits that used to be hugely admired in Minnesota, where everyone's IQ is above the state average. Bless you for reading this far. Harry Dewey, Beltsville, Maryland USA zone 7a