OCR Text |
Show i TakeMuUW ji j! Forlt1 ! J By FRANK COLBY I SURPRISE WORD OF THE WEEK The words TEMPERATURE and TEMPERAMENTAL usually are telescoped thus: "TEM-puh-cher" and "TEM-pruh-MEN't'l." But the "a," though obscured, stands as a definite syllable. Be sure to say: TEM-per-uh-chooi (or, less frequently heard: TEM-per-uh-tyoor), and: TEM-pcr-uh-MEN't'l. Recently a .columnist-broadcaslei said, "He is sick with a temperature." tempera-ture." Temperature in the meaning of "fever" Is a common though in accurate term, for the word doej not designate either hotness or coldness. cold-ness. A feverish person has a high temperature. A well person has a temperature, too the normal 1)8 ( degrees. A person with "no temperature" tem-perature" would register 459.6 degrees de-grees below zero, about as cold aj my wife's feet in the winter. PIANIST Q. Why do some speakers say "PEE-uhnist"? A. That pronunciation is a Briticism. Briti-cism. Best American usage accents the second syllable. In 1710. the Italian harpsichord maker, Cristofori, invented an instrument in-strument which, by means of ped- als, would play both soft and loud, ! This was such a remarkable inv provement over the old-styled harpsichord harp-sichord that Italians began to refei to the instrument as piano e forte, "soft and loud." I recommend the . first choice of all American |