What kind of energy?

The guy who does the "underwriting spots" (because we can't call them "Advertisements") for NPR annoys the heck out of me, not only because he does a commercial every fifteen minutes for an organization that then twice a year asks me for my money to "Keep NPR Commercial Free", but because he can't quite pronounce the letter "N" if it comes in the middle of a multisyllabic word.

You may know the guy I mean, he's the one that tells you that "All Things Considered is made possible by..."

"The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Committed to achieving surplus understanding in a positive community leadership role in the Third World. On The Web at: Bill And Melinda Sitting in a Tree dot O-R-G."

"The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; committed to motivating Key Contributions to world understanding and combating the leading causes of failing indicators worldwide. On the Web at: J-W-R-F-L-M-N-O-P dot O-R-G"

"The Isaac Asimov Foundation; Committed to preserving knowledge for the Future through the use of Psychohistorical findings and the Encyclopaedia Galactica. On the Web at: Hari Seldon dot com"

Anyway, one or two of these foundations have something in their mission statement about "communities" and he never quite pronounces the "N". Instead it comes out as a "D" sound, so it sounds like he is saying "Commudities". The worst one is the foundation that is "Dedicated to providing Commudities with Job Opportudities" It is annoying, and during a two hour commute you might hear it Four Times or more.

This particular little Speech Impediment had long been a pet peeve of mine, and I had pretty much gotten used to it, but the other day I heard one that made me laugh out loud. Honda Motors is an occasional underwriter of the fine programming on NPR, and they are touting their environmental record, to appeal to the "Green" NPR listener base. One of their environmentally responsible programs is increased research into "Alternative Fuels".

Replace the "N" sound with a "D" sound in that phrase and you will see why I was busting a gut.