Why couldn't we start a war with a country that has easier spelled names?

[trumad]

just askin...

[cmd]

1. You having trouble with Iraq?

I guess Iran would be easier to spell.

[Lost-in-FL]

18. Dammit It is NOT Iraq

it is Eyeraq... I'm SeRies!!1!!!11

[Left Is Write]

23. Whenever I hear "Eye-RACK" on TV, I want to throw something at it.

[The Magistrate]

2. Someone Once Said, Sir

"War is how Americans learn geography."

[madokie]

3. I've heard that before.

[trumad]

5. LOL

I got the countries down---it's the human names that give me trouble..

[The Magistrate]

6. And Defeat, Sir, Broadens Cuisine

"You can chart the fall of empire by the corner restaurants."

[eridani]

22. And selling drugs--

--is how we learn the metric system.

[NoPasaran]

4. I guess that's why our Civil War is still so popular

Both sides speaking English and all that. Although it's said that the reason that Union Colonel Krzyzanowski never made general is that no one in Congress could pronounce his name.

[The Magistrate]

9. An Odd Note, Sir

In early Missouri Federal regiments, the language of command was German: the immigrants at St. Louis were the loyalists and the upstate natives the secesh.

[NoPasaran]

19. Ah, yes, the "I fights mit Sigel" crowd

"Colonel Kriz" raised the 58th New York Volunteer Infantry "Polish Legion" and later commanded a brigade in the XI Corps of the ARmy of the Potomac. However, the Senate rejected his promotion to Brigadeer General because (accordeding to Carl Schurz) none of the Senators could pronounce his name.

[The Magistrate]

21. It Is Not One Of My Specialities, Sir

But one of my cherished old books is a history compiled around 1876 that contains a great deal of immediate color in its accounts. I appreciate the nugget on the "Polish Legion", which was new to me. They told me one of my ancestors was with Stonewall, but we would probably not have got along well....

"I will fight the secesh till Hell freezes over, then fight on the ice!"

[Throd]

7. Invade Kyrgyzia!

[SoCalDem]

8. ALL names are pronounceable, if one listens to them

and breaks them into parts..

a la

ahh-mah-deen-a-zhad

people murder his name and it's not that hard to say..

[Donald Ian Rankin]

15. Only for children.

Different languages have different... I think the word is phonemes, but I'm not conifdent about that. The "th" sound found in English, for example, is present in very few other languages.

Above a certain, relatively young age, it's not possible, or at least incredibly difficult, to learn new phonemes, so you'll never be able to pronounce most other languages perfectly.

[SoCalDem]

16. That's true, but a close approximation can be achieved

If a person cares enough to try:)

[MrCoffee]

10. hey, Canada is pretty much all A's

but John Candy gave away our attack plans.

[NewJeffCT]

11. Chinese names are easy to spell

Pronouncing them is not easy...

Hu Jintao (president)
Wen Jiabao (prime minister)
Wu Yi (vice prime minister, or is that ministress?)

Yao Ming
Chow Yun-Fat
Jackie Chan
Lucy Liu
Zhang Ziyi
Zhao Wei
Shu Qi

[Kelly Rupert]

20. Pronouncing them is easy once you learn how.

Only hard parts are learning X, Q, and C. (similar to sh, ch, and ts), and learning when "i" is pronounced "ee" and when it's pronounced similar to "uh"

[NewJeffCT]

26. For me it's not bad

But, it's not always easy - Yu and Hu and words like that are not pronounced "you" and "who"

[H2O Man]

12. George W. was

trying to learn his elf-a-bet. Started with "Afghanistan," and got confused. "Bosnia" would have been nation-building, something he mortally opposes. "Cuba" may be next.

[undeterred]

13. irak iran whatsa difference?

:silly:

[NorVegan]

14. To quote Alan Jackson

"I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran"

[trumad]

17. LOL

excellent///

[Swede]

24. I guess Zimbabwe would be safe.

Liechtenstein and Luxembourg too.

[Porcupine]

25. Nope, lets invade Greenland. Names with no vowels!!!

Plus after the ice is gone it'll be the new Hawaii. Except the natives are all blondes and redheads with loose morals.