Last week my student said she had to study "Algae Buddha."
I was surprised. "What is algae buddha?" I asked.
She was disconcerted. She thought I should know.
It went back and forth.
Finally, I learned she was trying to say "Algebra."
The problem is that epithentic vowel. It goes between the "b" and the "r," because Korean doesn't allow those two consonants to go together. Al-je-beu-ra. Then, the rules of Korean prosody being applied, the epithentic gets the emphasis. And so you get "algae buddha."
I told her I thought it was more interesting when I thought it was Algae Buddha.
[daily log: walking, 6 km]