Unique American Pronunciation

When I went to Arkansas for the first time in 1974, to give one of my fifty-state university talks, just two or three minutes before the talk, a professor at the University of Arkansas came up to me. He said, "Sri Chinmoy, you are a godly man. I am so happy that you have come to our university to illumine us."

I said to him, "I am so happy to come to 'Ar-Kan-SAWS'."

The kind-hearted professor most kindly said to me, "Sri Chinmoy, it is pronounced 'Ar-Kan-SAW', not 'Ar-Kan-SAWS'. This has nothing to do with your spiritual wisdom, which you have so kindly come to share with us."

Even now, some of my younger students, specially girls, correct my unbearable pronunciation. On the whole, boys do not dare to correct my pronunciation. But girls lovingly and compassionately correct my pronunciation.

In the case of the word 'magnificent', I used to put the accent on 'mag' and would say 'MAG-nificent'. They told me, "No, it is 'mag-NIF-icent'."

For 'unique', I used to say 'U-nique'. They said, "No, it is 'u-NIQUE'."

These two words perhaps I pronounce correctly nowadays. But, alas, when it comes to 'Massachusetts', I still perspire when I have to pronounce it correctly!

From:Sri Chinmoy,The Canvas of Time, Madal Bal, Czech Republic, 2019
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/cat