This does not help...

Oh man, somebody please make it stop! This afternoon on NPR, in his into to Science Friday, host Ira Flatow began (and I'm working from memory) by talking about how hard physics is, and how theories often remain just that- theories- for a long time until they can be proven. I almost ran my car into a ditch. Like I say, I'm paraphrasing, but that was the gist.

This is not a good way to promote public understanding of science; email to Ira Flatow in the works...

Tarpon are "maniche"

So last night I was watching an episode of "River Monsters."  In this episode host Jeremy Wade was fishing for tarpon on Nicaragua's Miskito coast. One of the locals told him tarpon are "mannish"; the show's editing team were apparently unaware of the English provenience of the term, and in the subtitles they spelled it "maniche," maybe thinking it came from French or somewhere. I'm guessing they were thrown off by the pronunciation: [ˈmaniš] rather than [ˈmænɪš].

Also, this reminds me of an episode in which Andrew Zimmern of "Bizarre Foods" was visiting the same area.  He could not get the pronunciation of "oil-down" (a stew) correct: [ɔylˈdɔŋ].