Puh-Tay-Toe - Pah-tah-toe, Kutter - Kuh-Tahr (Qatar) ... Let's Not Call the Whole Thing Off. - Granite Grok

Puh-Tay-Toe – Pah-tah-toe, Kutter – Kuh-Tahr (Qatar) … Let’s Not Call the Whole Thing Off.

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Did you know that 400 to 500 people died preparing the infrastructure required for the tiny Arab nation with all that oil money and the flip-flopping name to host the World Cup? They added 200 billion to stadiums and transportation infrastructure in a country whose name you still don’t know how to pronounce.

When I was growing up, I had some stamps (I collected) from Qatar. We pronounced it Kuh-Tar.  But not long ago, everyone insisted that it be pronounced “Cutter.” I’m thinking that maybe Obama said it like that, and the sycophant media faithfully repeated what dear leader said.

I have proof of that. It’s just a whimsical presumption (the sycophantic media bit is genuine). But rumor has it – and I could care less about the World Cup (Go USA!) – many of the English-speaking announcers have returned to how I said it growing up. Kuh-Tar. Kuh-TARRRRRRR. (UK/ˈkætɑːr, ˈkʌt-, ˈɡæt-, ˈɡʌt-, kæˈtɑːr, ɡæ-, kə-/US/ˈkɑːtɑːr, kəˈtɑːr/).

Why not Cater? Seems like a compromise to me.

As in, if you’d catered to some notion of safety, 400-500 people might still be alive – a number that is in dispute “as in” no one seem to know precisely how many Qatari lives were lost to steal the plans to the Death Star. But many lives were lost.

I think that’s pronounced KuhTar-ee.

And to be honest, I’m not sure any KuhTar-ee lives were lost, exactly. It sounds like they imported the workers. Many migrants were brought in (think Egypt and Pyramids, but with invitations and a minimum wage you might not have to pay if the worker dies), ala Longshanks from Braveheart. “Arrows cost money. Use up the Irish. Their dead cost nothing.”

Qatar is also an Islamic nation, so there’s not much fun to be had if you could care less (like me) about The World Cup. It’s not well known for its concern about human rights, which might be why so many people died to bring it to you. But I’ve yet to see any soccer balls with blood on them, probably because I’m not looking for them or hard enough or in the right place.

That and this is one of those whimsical all-over-the-place posts that started as a curiosity about the pronunciation of Qatar. And it turns out everyone is wrong. The best case for the average western moron is to say Ki-terr. The official pronunciation requires a bit more explanation. Gidrrrrr (or Gi-ter).

Hey, let’s learn something together. Here’s an actual Gi-ter(ee) to explain it.

 

 

 

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