By this definition, Xolo wouldn’t fit because the x in Xolo is somewhere between sh- and ch-. It’s a Nahuatl word and many (if not all) Xs are sh-/ch-.
The Nahuatl word Xoloitzcuintle is something the vast majority of English-speaking Americans can’t read, let alone spell or pronounce correctly. So the more digestible word Xolo was adopted to identify Mexican hairless dogs (hard X, hard O, L, hard O).
When were talking about teaching kids the alphabet we need to train both individual and applied letters
This is only slightly related but I once met a young (USAmerican) adult who thought the stripy horse animal’s name was pronounced zed-bra in British English and it was really hard to convince her otherwise. In her mind zebra was strongly connected to Z-bra, so of course if someone was to pronounce the letter “zed” it would turn into “zed-bra” and not just into “zeh-bra”.
Xolo - hairless Mexican dog
Xenops - small bird
(I don’t use X-Ray because saying the letter X doesn’t make either of the letter’s major phonetic sounds.)
Excuse me?
X, spoken as a letter = ecks
Hard phonetic sound = zz, same as the letter Z (almost always at the beginning of a word. Xylophone)
Soft phonetic sound = ksk (never at the beginning of a word. Box, oxen)
(disclaimer: American English, ymmv.)
By this definition, Xolo wouldn’t fit because the x in Xolo is somewhere between sh- and ch-. It’s a Nahuatl word and many (if not all) Xs are sh-/ch-.
Sorry for being pedantic.
And also its Xoloitzcuintle. A bit of a mouth full for a 6 year old. Also, like you said a nahuatl word and not English.
To be fair, most English words aren’t even really English
Most words used in normal, day-to-day conversations are English.
Don’t be sorry, you’re not pedantic enough.
The Nahuatl word Xoloitzcuintle is something the vast majority of English-speaking Americans can’t read, let alone spell or pronounce correctly. So the more digestible word Xolo was adopted to identify Mexican hairless dogs (hard X, hard O, L, hard O).
As an English speaking American I can confirm. I started pronouncing it in my head then kinda gave up cus I haven’t had enough coffee yet
No, i think i get it but difficult to explain.
Say X, X, X in a row
Then say
Xylo , Xen, Xono
The Raw letter has different phonet-x to how it’s often applied.
When were talking about teaching kids the alphabet we need to train both individual and applied letters
I do realize that this might be very cultural and language dependent but i am pretty sure we’re talking plain english.
This is only slightly related but I once met a young (USAmerican) adult who thought the stripy horse animal’s name was pronounced zed-bra in British English and it was really hard to convince her otherwise. In her mind zebra was strongly connected to Z-bra, so of course if someone was to pronounce the letter “zed” it would turn into “zed-bra” and not just into “zeh-bra”.