Peaches and Dulcinea: don't mind me, I'm studying stuff

I could have sworn one of those came out as "Sing", except I erased that entry

(?ing a ?ong) Xi sells ?eaxells by the ?eaxore

OK wait, I might have been concentrating on one particular guy

But that sort of implies Xi and Xing are pronounced differently.
I'll go look. Nope, definitely Sh-sound.
I need the "s" sound or my life will be incomplete.

This vague and bombastic subject is milked to the max, but I'm getting closer.

https://www.omeidachinese.com/chinese-pronunciation-c-q-r-x-z/

https://www.omeidachinese.com/chinese-pronunciation-c-q-r-x-z/ is nice, but no "s"

Lessee, we've done q and x...

If you (and I'm speaking of another language) put this question to a native speaker, especially one with an average education, they have no frame of reference and won't know what you're on about.
Cantonese vs Mandarin vs Pinyin, they get bored after the first couple sentences and leave... I'm not bringing this up at parties any time soon, But my train of thought needs to know.

The original train has to do with Chinese Demons, and since most websites are bombastic, they skirt the subject.

Demons (Demon women anyway) wear heavier eye makeup.

Oh, and flowing robes...

F*ck you!!
(*sshole)

OK *possibly* "C"

(ignore the boor just previous)

it sounds more like "ts" but it's as close as I've gotten so far (no thanks to the bombastic guy)

xi cells cixells by the cixore (This bad spelling is getting closer)

But it's still not right (tsay it, don't tspray it)

wtf
So "s" looks like pointy-nose?

OK this is a hotly disputed subject (apparently) and so-called experts do it wrong.

https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/15411-how-do-you-pronounce-x/

I have no idea wtf this guy just said, and I read it twice, at least:

West is sibian WHUT??

Wikipedia, making you look stewpid for decades
But this entry deserves an award, most opaque

I used to think I could play the piano if I tried, and I gave that up too.

in "Chinese" but spelled using english letters.

Apparently there are nine english fricatives, and a "Fricative" is your tongue or your lips playing with your teeth.

That fancy looking symbol is so rare only mathematicians and maybe greek students would know it, but stripping away the pretentious folderol,

it's the "TH" in "Through" or in "Thought" which are already puffed-up versions of ordinary words.

WE commoners, plebeians and unwashed, (and maybe these guys) would prolly say "Thru" and "Thot," and be castigated by pedants everywhere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English

cussing in code (anything in IPA-code) never really caught on, I suppose (in my blissful ignorance)

maybe because you couldn't type whatever they're on about (tr-backwards-c:fancy O/"Theta")

It would take me ten years to type "The cat in the hat" in IPA, but I wanted to.

Does that count?

The lowest-common-denominator of all these terms is that they make stuff unnecessarily complicated to differentiate the initiated from the neophytes.

through=Thru

Rough=ruff

though=thoe

bough=bow

So, Mr. AI genius, how do you pronounce "ough" in a word?

I'm getting called from cranky listeners in my head about "bow":

it rhymes with "now" which rhymes with "Bough"

Except no one except the pretentious say "Bough", they use "Branch" or tree-top" instead.
"when the bough breaks" could just as well be "when the branch cracks", it has no effect on the meter or the rhyme of the song.

The republicans are missing out on a tempest in a teapot: spelling in schools.

Woke (simplified) vs archaic (conservative)

Note to self: attempt replacing the line "tempest in a teapot" with half-hearted IPA spelling; o nvm.

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An ad for an article about your brain doesn't say much of anything, except maybe "whatever you're doing, stop it, you'll ruin your brain"

But it's the misleading picture that irritates me.
TBA (switching browsers)