Thanks, maia. Is that pronounced MEE'-ah or mee-AH' or neither? Just curious. My mom was an Italian from Brooklyn, and she used to say, "Oh, mama mia!" (Pronounced MEE'-uh)
neither... it's the greek word for 'great mother; little mother; midwife'... and 'witch'! [all of which apply to me, to some extent]... as well as the name of the eldest of the pleiades, daughters of the titan atlas and granddaughter of gaia, the earth goddess... and it's pronounced 'mah-ee-ah'... usually has an umlaut over the 'i'... my mom was sicilian/calabrese from mount vernon, but wasn't given to saying 'oh, mamma mia!' since her father made all of his children speak english from babyhood, so she only 'reverted' when talking to her mother, whose english remained scanty throughout her life...
