and
The Portuguese
Language
Subject: The Portuguese
I have been reading a book of European travel essays by a woman who wrote a great book about travels in Mexico in 1953: A Visit to Don Otavio (Sybille Bedford).
Here is her description of Portuguese:
- The general recipe for pronunciation is to forget everything one has ever heard or learnt of Spanish and Italian, to lop off final vowels and as many others as laziness suggests, drawl out the remaining ones, change any consonant into one easier to say, replace all s's with a double shsh, aim at a nasal twang (a blend of Cockney with Medidional French will do), sing the whole like Welsh, explode it to sound like Polish, and do not forget a hint of Dutch. Begin with the name of the capital: Leeshshbowah. The trouble is that the Portuguese will not even try to listen to your efforts; they don't believe a foreigner to be capable of managing a single sentence.
After being immersed in it for two hours during the movie about Bossa Nova, I am convinced. Beautiful, but impossible, like much else in this polyglot world.
RALPH:
I loved your site and learned so much from it. Thank you.
However I got there looking for the words to a song from WWII for my Father is trying to take his last mission and I would like to have the words for his services. He was a Bomber Pilot in WWII and used to play this song alot. The song is "Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer." I would like very much to have all the words for him. Send To :
Thank you so much
bob.schuck@comcast.net
I remember it well. It was a time of blackouts, rationing coupons, squashing tin cans, balling up the foil from Wrigley's Spearmint Gum, and finding tar spread all over the Atlantic Coast Beaches (from tankers sunk by the U-boats). Along with "Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet" and "That's America to Me," "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" --- "Coming Home on a Wing and a Prayer" was one of the favorite songs from WWII. This comes from the Lyrical Network in the Netherlands, and the music is by Jimmy McHugh, lyrics by Harold Adamson; from 1943:
Comin' in on a wing and a prayer
Comin' in on a wing and a prayer
Thought there's one motor gone
We can still carry on
Comin' in on a wing and a prayer
What a show, what a fight
Yes we really hit our target for tonight
How we sing as we limp through the air
Look below, there's our field over there
With our full crew aboard
And our trust in the Lord
We're comin' in on a wing and a prayer
One of our planes was missing
Two hours overdue
One of our planes was missing
With all it's gallant crew
The radio sets were humming
They waited for a word
Then a voice broke through the humming
And this is what they heard:
Comin' in on a wing and a prayer
Comin' in on a wing and a prayer
Thought there's one motor gone
We can still carry on
Comin' in on a wing and a prayer.
