>Fellow Tweeters; Could you help me clear up a little confusion? On several
>occasions this Spring I have been corrected in my pronunciation of two
>species of birds...namely Lazuli Bunting and Vaux's Swift.
> I have tried "Luzoolee" and "Lazleye", and also, "Voze" and Vawx's".
>I have been corrected attempting to use all four versions, some of them
>more than once! What's the scoop on this? Does it matter?

Hmmm, not sure how you get "voze" out of "lazuli", but...oh, be still,
Don. :)

"Vaux's" is correct - he was English, not French, and, for instance,
the English automobile "Vauxhall" is not pronounce "voh-hall".

"LaZOOli" is how the blue rock is pronounced and is probably the
right way to pronounce the bird, too, but all the birder's I've
hung out with from Portland call it "LAzuhleye"

My standard response to such corrections is a shortened form of
"I really don't care", i.e. "*bleep* off".

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, at http://www.xxxpdx.com/~dhogaza