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ImageSMART TALK

by Dr. Verbos Metikulos



POINTSETTUH: I feel sorry for this poor shrub every winter. It gets planted and nurtured, filling the streets Mexican towns and villages with its beauty. And then it gets shipped north, where ignorant Americanos will call them poin-SET-ahs, or even worse, point-SET-ahs, as if they're never seen the name in print.

At the Center for English as a First Language, we can usually treat this problem by simply asking the patient to look carefully, perhaps for the first time, at the word. Unlike many, this word is pronounced exactly the way it's spelled: poinsettia (poin-SET-ee-ah). Note the next-to-last letter; also note that the fifth letter is an S, not a T. It's really not that difficult.

My colleague Laconia Crisp says she's apt to think the ignorant gringos who can't say poinsettia are simply a lower class of people, but I think she's being harsh; they're more likely just poor readers.

And poinsettia isn't even a Spanish word. Mr. Joel Poinsett, an American diplomat and amateur botanist, named the plant after himself in the early years of this great country. So have some respect.

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