Bob Fitterman writes, "I'll tell you what feature I'd love to see
in such a glossary: a little button you can click to hear the
*pronunciation* of the word."  And Robbie follows, "Let's discuss
these sound bites/bytes some more."

My memories of childhood are still haunted by the day I first spoke
the word "parabola" to my mother (whose degree is in Mathematics) as
"paira-bowla."  Yes, sound bites would be nice -- but I am *not*
the one to speak them!

Given a digitized clip, putting it on the web is easy -- many MMD
web sites that I've visited have sound.  I'm not really sure how much
space it would take, but it couldn't be that much for individual words.

To assist those who don't have the facilities to digitize sound,
I believe that my wife's all-singing, all-dancing computer has the
ability to digitize a sound clip from an audio tape.  We could run
the Tascam semi-pro cassette tape deck in to a SoundBlaster AWE-64
Gold sound card.  I'd guess that other list members have access to
better equipment than this.  I would be glad to help if I can, or
to defer to better equipment and recording skills.

Thanks to John Tuttle for an e-mail in which he cited the definition
of "Zepher Skin" from the Player Piano Co. catalog:

    Zepher Skin:  "A tough, feather-light membrane made from animal
    intestines.  Used for pouches.  Almost air-tight."

I wonder if zephyr skin is related to "goldbeater's skin."
Goldbeater's skin was made from animal intestine and was used
in the construction of hydrogen-filled airships because it was
relatively impervious to hydrogen.

Is it "Zepher" or "Zephyr"?  Zephyr is the west wind, or a gentle
breeze, from the Latin Zephyrus, from an earlier Greek form.

   "...
   Whan Zephyrus eek with his sweete breeth
   Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
   The tendre croppes, ..."
       (Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 5-7)

Thanks also to Bill Kibler for pointing me to his very nice
description of organ pitching at:

   http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/6809/orgbuild.html

David M. MacMillan
dmm@lemur.com
http://www.msen.com/~lemur/


 [ It's "Zephyr" in English, and in German also "Zephir".
 [
 [ My 7 kilogram dictionary of 1927 says:  1. the west wind;
 [ hence any soft, gentle breeze;  2. Zephyr cloth - A thin kind
 [ of cassimere [cashmere] for women's wear.
 [
 [ In modern English the quote from Chaucer might be
 [
 [ "When Zephyrus expands with his sweet breath,
 [  inspired are, in every woods and heath,
 [  the tender crops,...."
 [
 [ -- Robbie