Shades Of Dreich

It was a properly grim autmnal day today.  Dreich as they would say in Scotland. And as I did in my title.

It's an interesting word insofar as pronounciation goes.  The "ei" is pronounced as a hard E as in conceit, deceit, receipt and not as a hard A like in neighbour, feign or deign.  

That doesn't happen in German.  German has strict rules about pronounciation, which makes it easier to learn.  I say "easier to learn".  I should qualify that.  The pronunciation rules are about the only time the German language throws you a biscuit.

And while I'm on about language, did you know that the word Umlaut was coined by Jacob Grimm (of the Brothers Grimm fame)?  That's a whole other story that I'm not up to explaining at the moment.

The heating is on.  I'm feeling safe and warm.  That counts as a good day.