Babs Cannon wrote:

> ...Question: what is the correct way to pronounce, "draaiorgel,
> and its exact meaning?
>
>  [ Hans van Oost, can you tell us the official definition, as
>  [ proclaimed by the government of the Netherlands?  (Yes, indeed,
>  [ Babs, the draaiorgel/pierement is a national heritage!  :)
>  [ -- Robbie

Some notes about the subject "draaiorgel"

1.  Pronunciation.  The word is pronounced very much as it is spelled,
with a rather long, and very open "aai", so "draai" is pronounced as
"dry", but with a typical rolling "r", that is not known in the English
or American language.  The r in "orgel" is pronounced in the same way.
The word orgel is pronounced very much as organ, except for the l at
the end.  (note: this is not a Dutch government statement, Robbie  (-:

2.  Meaning.  In the Netherlands the word "draaiorgel" is used for
all hand-cranked organs, whether big or small, and with disregard of
their use.  So every organ with a wheel on it, from the smallest monkey
organ to the biggest Gavioli fair organ is a "draaiorgel".  The word
"Pierement" is slowly vanishing from the Dutch language.  It was used
almost exclusively for street organs in Amsterdam.

I wish all the MMD members lots of success in trying to pronounce
these Dutch words.  It should be easy; most Dutch people speak some
English!

Hans van Oost