Different spellings to produce ooooooo in English

Last night I introduced the folks in my Italian class to one of the odd points of the English language. In Italian there is but one way to produce the sound of ooooooooo. And that is with the letter "u".

In English it's not so easy. Check out the wide variety of spellings below:

• To
• Two
• Too
• You
• Shoe
• Flue
• Flew
• Flu
• Slough
• Beauty
• Impugn

I think those of us who learned to speak English at an early age (years ago) can be very happy we don't have to confront this battery of linguistic problems.

Vivent les francaises!

Pia and Julia get dual citizenship.

We just got word this morning that my daughter Pia, and her daughter Julia, who live in Brittany, in western France, became naturalized French citizens. The action by the French government was dated November 2. That happens to be my birthday. We're wondering if, now that they have dual citizenship, Joyce and I will have to change the pronunciation of our name--Boyer.

The Durango Herald 10/31/2011 | In kidney exchange, fortune smiles all around

The world seems to approve . . . .
The Durango Herald 10/31/2011 | In kidney exchange, fortune smiles all around

John Peel writes a weekly human interest column for the Durango Herald. Terry and I are honored that he chose to write about our big kidney transplant adventure. And we are pleased that he cast it in such favorable terms. The transplant was a big deal for both of us. We hope by generating some publicity about our transplant  that we can raise some awareness about the need for more donors to come forward. Thank you, John Peel for helping with this effort.