Just now saw Mark Bowditch's comment on another forum re. pronounciation of the D-word.
About 2 years ago, I came up with "Dahb", but was outvoted, ignored and overall sneered at (I am stll seething
).
The reason for this transliteration:
1. Several of my Thai friends could not fathom what did I mean by Dha, Dah or Darb (with open A still sullied with traces of R). Only when I said Dahb (open A without R) did they smile and said that, yes, sure, this is a name for a Thai sword.
2, Why Dahb? I was inspired by the exaggerated Bostonian accent: "Ah pahked mah cah" If they can use it in Hahvahd, we can use it too and sound mahvelously Brahmin ( and a bit more Tha-ish, too)
Mahk, what do you think?