Disney-comics digest #573.

Don Rosa 72260.2635 at compuserve.com
Sun Feb 5 05:38:07 CET 1995


DWIGHT:
	You are absolutely right, of course... and I'm surprised that there are
any comic book readers that don't know the distinct difference between "phew"
and "whew". Perhaps they don't use such classic old expressions correctly
nowadays as they did in the comics you and I grew up on?
	It's just a repitition of what you say... but, right: "phew" is
pronounced "fyew" and definitely indicates a bad smell or such. "Whew" is
pronounced... well, it's more of just a sound of air being forced through pursed
lips, sortuva "whhsshhwwww" without any sorta vowell sound.
	I'm also surprised when I learn that there a funnybook readers who think
that "heh, heh, heh" (which is an underbreath chuckle to one's self with a
short-e) is pronounced the same as "hee, hee, hee" (an evil or sarcastic chortle
of moderate audibility), even though I think they know it's different from a
"ha, ha, ha" (normal laugh) and "har, har, har" (loud guffaw).
	These differences are of MAJOR importance! Readers who are not fluent in
the language of comic art will never fully understand the nuances of meanings of
the dialogue and therefore of the stories.




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