What a lovely article, written by someone with great observational skills - Air Clues at its whimsical best.
These days, I suppose a mean-minded PC nit-picker would find it condescending, and even slightly sexist - but I'm sure the author was trying manfully (personfully?) to be neither.
My Danish granddaughter tells me that there the ducks say "Rappe, rappe." but it still sounds like "Quack, quack" to me.
Thanks for that, exscribbler. As a professional speaker, I'm fascinated by the pronunciation of foreign languages. I often find it hard to see any correlation between the written word and the sound, especially in the lesser-known European languages. Mind you, we English can hardly complain - what about rough, bough, cough, though, etc. And then there's that famous word ghoti*.
Btw, aren't grandchildren a pleasure? As someone suggested the other day, "If I'd known what fun grandkids were going to be, I 'd have had them first."
airsound
*gh as in enough, o as in women, ti as in position - ghoti spells fish.