iraq

Want to sound like a good old boy who doesn’t give a hoot what foreigners think? Say “EYE-rack.” But if you want to sound knowledgeable, say “ear-ROCK.” Politicians who know better sometimes adopt the popular mispronunciation in order to sound more folksy and down to earth.Similarly in standard English, Iran is not pronounced “eye-RAN” but “ear-RON.”On a related matter, the first syllable of “Italian” is pronounced just like the first syllable in “Italy,” with an “it” sound. “Eye-talian” sounds distinctly uneducated.

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• stood vs stayed
• unpleased vs displeased
• summary vs summery
• little own vs let alone
• all for not vs all for naught
• soar vs sore
• dateline vs deadline
• hock vs hawk
• bias vs biased
• acapella vs a capella vs a cappella

Definitions

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• n  a republic in the Middle East in western Asia; the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia was in the area now known as Iraq

News & Articles

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• 24 dead in new wave of Iraq attacks
  BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Officials say 10 apparently coordinated car bombs and a shooting across Iraq have killed at least 24 and wounded dozens.
  June 16, 2013 - Associated Press via Yahoo! News
• Iraq Qaeda leader rebuffs move to end dispute with Syria group: SITE
  RIYADH (Reuters) - An audio recording attributed to the head of al Qaeda in Iraq suggests he has rebuffed efforts by the group's global leader Ayman al-Zawahri to end a dispute with the movement's Syrian wing, the SITE Monitoring group reported on Saturday. Al Qaeda in Iraq announced in April it had united with Syria's Nusra Front in a new group called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ...
  June 15, 2013 - Reuters via Yahoo! News
• Iraq slashes production plan, but doubts remain
  BAGHDAD, June 14 (UPI) -- Iraq has formally lowered its controversial oil production target by one quarter, apparently recognizing it was way too ambitious. But industry analysts say that even the scaled-down plan may still be beyond Baghdad's reach because of shale oil.
  June 14, 2013 - UPI