Volcano erupts near Eyjafjallajoekull in south Iceland

[FourScore]

Source: BBC

..."We estimate that no one is in danger in the area but we have started an evacuation plan and between 500 and 600 people are being evacuated," Sigurgeir Gudmundsson of the Icelandic civil protections department told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

There are fears that the volcano could cause flooding, as it causes ice to melt on the glacier.

"Ash has already begun to fall in Fljotshlid and people in the surrounding area have reported seeing bright lights emanating from the glacier," RUV public radio said on its website.

Three Icelandair flights, bound for Reykjavik from the United States, have been ordered to return to their points of origin, the radio reported...


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8578576.stm

[Drunken Irishman]

1. Well how the hell do you pronounce that? Hopefully it takes out a few syllables from that name.

[pansypoo53219]

2. more like silent letters.

or odd unamerican sounds. they have some very odd letters in their alphabet.

[Quantess]

3. It's a good bet the / j / sounds like / y /

[Dogmudgeon]

5. "SMITH" (they're all silent)

--d!

[Art_from_Ark]

20. It's spelled "Eyjafjallajoekull"

but it's pronounced "Throatwarbler Mangrove"

[obxhead]

6. well, BBC spelled it wrong to begin with

put an extra e in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyjafjallaj%C3%B6kull

and no, this didn't help me at all either :D

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. An 'o' with an umlaut is often written as 'oe'

when writing German and the umlaut isn't available to the typist, so I think the BBC is following that. Whether that's correct for Icelandic, I don't know.

As for pronunciation, I'm not familiar with the system that Wikipedia page uses either, but I'd suggest either Eye-yaff-yalla-yokel or Ay-yaff-yalla-yokel.

[demwing]

16. The Wiki page you linked to

has the pronunciation. Follow the link and click "LISTEN"

You may have to download a quick file to help Media Player do the job, but you'll soon hear the word pronounced in Icelandic. For those with no audio, there is also a link to the Wikipedia International Phonetic Alphabet here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA

good luck :)

[obxhead]

18. I looked for the 'listen to' button

guess I didn't look hard enough. It was rather late when I looked at the story.

[Lautremont]

10. Aye-yaff-yalla-yokull.

"I laugh at all the yokels" might work as a mnemonic device if you're doing an oral Icelandic geography exam in the near future.

[nashville_brook]

14. yep, that looks about right. what a cool name.

[gmoney]

15. "Springfield"

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Oops! Wrong location!

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Wonder how much ash will eventually be generated

Often larger volcanic eruptions impact the weather at some point as the ash gets into the atmosphere and starts circulating around the world.

[Baclava]

9. The earth is cracking open

Last eruption in 1821

[nebenaube]

19. well...

that's what they get for draining the water from under the glacier... This was predicted. Now, comes a potato famine and a two year winter in Europe or am I wrong?

[jberryhill]

11. Evacuation delayed by pronunciation issues...... /nt

[warrior1]

12. sounds like

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Eyjafjallaj%C3%B6kull.ogg

[CAG]

13. Did Iceland gays or satan worshippers upset baby Jesus? What has Pat

Robertson said about this yet?

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. It's either the IMF or Gordon Brown, upset at the referendum result

:hide:

[AngryAmish]

21. Do Icelandic cartographers just mash their hands on the keyboard?

Or maybe they name things via blackberry in their pocket?

[Tansy_Gold]

22. Best one I ever heard

was someone here in Arizona trying to pronounce "Oconomowoc."

The Icelanders don't have a monopoly on words-foreigners-can't-pronounce.



Tansy Gold, who still has difficulty with Nacogdoches, TX and Natchitoches, LA