Half outta three ...

I haven't picked on Alex in a while (and as I've said before, if he didn't get such a kick out of rubbing contestants' faces in their mispronunciations of, especially, French, I wouldn't), but today was a good one. The answer was "Among the Ukrainian rivers that flow into this sea are the Bug, the Dniepr, and the Dniestr". (The question is, of course, "What is the Black Sea?")

Alex said "Boog, Dneeper, and Dneester". If he's pronouncing them like a Russian, he got one right (the Bug) - well, almost. Russian has final devoicing, so it's more like Book (with an oo like fool [buk]. The other two are Dnyehpr [dnʲɛ'pr] and Dnyestr [dnʲɛ'str].

But if he's pronouncing them like a Ukrainian, he blew all three of them. It should be Boo [buɦ], Dneepro [dnʲi'pro], and Dnestro [dnʲi'stro].

(And of course, if he's pronouncing them like an American, it's "bug, dnyeper, and dnester".)