LAST EDITED ON Mar-21-06 AT 07:31 AM (GMT)
I am guessing that 'annb' is American, and thus confused by pronunciation suggestions by a speaker of British English, or rather non-American English.
For those of us in Australia/New Zealand, the pronunciation of 'mah' (as in 'bah humbug' or 'say Ahhhh') and 'rar' (as in 'car','far' or 'calm') are almost identical; although I would hazard that Rra is said as a South African person might pronounce 'car' ie much further in the throat than Aussies or Kiwis would say (and of course with the Rr pronounced 'rrrrrolled').
Just finished 'Blue Shoes and Happiness.' Damn but these books are addictive. I never had any desire to travel to Africa before, but now I do - especially since I discovered Tlokweng Road really does exist!
>A PS to my post above -
> Further searches on the net
>found an AMS site wherein the
>author replied to this query, although
>his answer confuses me a bit
>- "long a"?? and "rar"??:
>"... Mma is pronounced "mah" (that is,
>with a long a), and rra
>is similarly pronounced "rar". The double
>m and the double r slightly
>strengthen the mo and r sound,
>but only slightly. I hope that
>you enjoy the fourth book in
>due course!
>Very best wishes, Alexander McCall Smith"
>(from
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/mccallsmith/ask2.html)
>