SpaceShipOne News Coverage just a little rough on the edges

But the announcers on CNN did err at least two times:

1. They prounounced Sputnik with a short, instead of the proper long "U".


You mean like Spuuuuuuuuuutnik?

Well thats ok, were Americans, and besides, many Russians mispronounce English
words so it goes both ways.

2. They said SpaceShipOne won the prize when it succeeded in getting to
"outer" space. I do believe only the Voyager has made it to outer space,
which is really intersteller space, not the near space, which begins just
outside the Earth's atmosphere.

So you say. I say that near space begins at the tip of my nose. Those terms
outer and inner space are all relative.

While I'm at it, there is no "hell" in helicopter. Only once in recent
times have I heard a newscaster pronounce helicopter with a long "e" .

Some people find their helicopters to be Hell, some people don't like to fly
are all and putting them in a helicopter is sheer Hell to them, because they
are afraid of heights.

Yes, I am aware contemporary dictionaries disagree with this, but I believe
the word was coined with a long e, since the root of helicopter was derived
from the mathematical helix and was quickly *******ized into the form now
in common use. I am not an entomologist so don't come down on me if
anything in this post is off the beam.

But you better watch out for the Thesaurus, or else you might become its next
meal.

Tom