John Cowan wrote:

>
> Marco Cimarosti scripsit:
>
> > For "WWW", An humorous pronunciation I have heard is: "Viva, viva, viva!".
> > "W" is in fact also used as the abbreviation of Italian "viva" ("long life
> > to"). The opposite "abbasso" ("down with") is normally abbreviated with an
> > upside down "W".
>
> "It is a curious property of English that 'Up the [ethnonym]' is a expression of
> approval, whereas the same phrase followed by other short words is insulting."
> --I forget who

It is??? I always thought "Up the Irish!!" was something English scream
in Belfast.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...