Rhymes with What?
Sirs:
Reading through page 21 of TIME, Aug. 4, 1941, I came across the name of my ex-Premier—Phya Bahol—with your pronunciation as "Peeya B'hoo'" which is wrong.
The nearest pronunciation as I can think of should be "Pa-yâ Pa-hol."
In case you may be interested to know, his full name is Major General Phya Baholpolapayuhasena—pronounced Pa-yâ Pa-hol-pol-pa-yu-ha-se-nâ. . . .
SALA DASANANDA
Ithaca, N.Y.
Sirs:
I am a Thai student and consider myself privileged to be a confirmed, habitual and incorrigible reader of TIME. . . .
Being a foreigner and imbued, as I am, with an unsuspecting credulity, the farthest I would go with any other language is assiduously to pronounce it in the way it is spelt . . . . and thereby suffer a great many humiliations at the hand of the studied mispronunciation of the English language. . . .
In this particular case concerning the name of our former Premier mentioned in TIME, it happens that it is pronounced exactly as it is spelt, namely Phya Bahol. . . .
Yours—whatever you may pronounce it, S. PUNYAGUPTA Osterville, Mass.
>Here are two new pronunciations. The pronunciation TIME printed came from TIME'S correspondent in Bangkok and was rechecked before publication by the Thai Legation in Washington. TIME'S readers are advised to swallow their tongues slightly when speaking of the ex-Premier.—ED.
Rotarians and Nazis
Sirs:
Nazi activities in South America are many, and you have pointed out some of them. Still you do not mention the Rotary International, whose business offices are in your own country. Silly Rotary Clubs in South America are known as gathering places for pro-Axis members, and many of them appear also on the black lists. I think the matter deserves more than a commentary.
E. GARCIA CARRILLO, M.D. San José, Costa Rica
>Rotary Clubs exist in 8 Latin American republics, but in most of them, with the possible exception of Chile and Colombia, Rotarians with Nazi sympathies are few. One good reason: Rotary International's bitter relations with Nazis in Europe, where Rotary Clubs have been generally suppressed. Suspect are some Rotary Clubs in Mexico, but Rotary harbors no Nazi hotspots in Cuba, Peru, Brazil. In Buenos Aires all but one pro-Nazi member resigned, on German Embassy orders after Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s famed democracy speech.
Rotary International's ex-president (1938-39) George Caldwell Hager, who in the last nine months visited 50 Latin American Rotary Clubs, declares: "In the whole of Central and South America you will not find over 100 members of Rotary with Nazi leanings." He adds that no Rotary members are on the black list.—ED.
In Six Lines
Sirs:
A comment.
DICTATOR
He said:
I shall be ruthless.
When the time for cruelty is past I will be merciful once more.
But the wind blew And he froze that way.
RICHARD MAIBAUM
Beverly Hills, Calif.
Jews Included
Sirs:
You have asserted without basis in your Aug. 4 issue that the Archbishop of Dubuque is an anti-Semite. . . .