Ever wonder why many of the written languages of many of the former Commie countries in Eastern Europe have so few vowels in their words; e.g., cities like Gdansk and Ktpsfgzer?

We discovered that the Dutch and Flemings are hogging the vowels--often using two where one could suffice quite nicely; e.g., Haarlem, Amersfoort, Noordwijk, Oostende, and the infamous Roosendaal and Aalsmeer. And those are just a few town names, what about the thousands of other Dutch words?

I think the UN should do something about this.

Yes, Rufus, but there's a Rozendaal as well as a Roosendaal!

I believe it was theonion.com that first announced President Clinton's executive initiative to bring more vowels to Bosnia, beginning with the cities of Sjlbvdnzv and Grzny. Once the zanies at cartalk.com got ahold of it, there was no turning back.

=D>
Thanks. Been needing a good giggle today.

I've heard that Dutch and Flems originally stuttered and this led to the profusion of vowels....aaaah!

There are two consecutive "a"s in our last name. My husband always says, "The two a's make it Dutch."

RufusTFirefly, are you sure you want me to start explaining the spelling and pronounciation rules of Dutch/Flemish?

In short: single and double vowels have a different pronouciation in some cases.

And BTW, if you think Dutch has a lot of vowels, definitely check out Finish !

I believe the record is held by the Aoyouiae tribe, whose language consists only of what we call vowels. (They consider y and u as consonants.)

Haven't been to Fin yet--but I'll certainly study the vowel situation when we do get there.