Talk:Karoo

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IMHO these are actually two totally different entities, although they share a common border and (part of) a name, and should thus be split into two separate articles. Comments, anyone? Elf-friend 10:47, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

• I'm sorry, but that doesn't make sense. That's like saying East Germany and West Germany should still have separate articles [although they do here!!], simply because they used to be separate. (RM21 19:47, 21 June 2006 (UTC))

• Well, the two Karoo regions are still distinctive geographical entities with different types of flora, etc. Elf-friend 14:42, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

• Strictly speaking there are three major Karoo regions. What is commonly called the Great Karoo is actually divided into the Great and the Upper Karoo. The division being the watershed dividing the Orange River basin from the rivers that flow southward into the Indian Ocean. One of the well known landmarks on the watershed are the Three Sisters peaks which form part of the Nuweveld range, situated next to the N1 highway between Beaufort West and Richmond/Victoria West. This division aproximately co-incides with the boundary between The Western and Northern Cape Provinces. The Great Karoo basin is on average more than 1000 feet lower than the Upper Karoo. Roger 10:57, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology

I removed the bit about "place of great thirst". The etymology looks very iffy: The Encyclopaedia Britannica kind of backs it up as "a Khoisan word meaning 'land of thirst'", but this isn't confirmed by the OED which says "the precise etymology is uncertain", explaining that early 1800s sources identified it as Khoi for "hard", but later ones suggest they might have confused it with garo = desert. Go figure. Gordonofcartoon 21:00, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] pronunciation of "Karoo"

Please can someone who knows the correct pronunciation of "Karoo" in English and Afrikaans include it at the beginning of this article, in IPA? (and should it also include the pronunciation in other SA official languages?) Dveej (talk) 04:29, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately I do not know IPA but I will try to give you an idea of how it is said:

SA English - "ka" the "a" is a short "schwa" - "roo" is the same as in "kangaroo"

Afrikaans - "ka" The "a" is the same sound as in "cup" - "roo" the "r" is "rolled" like in most germanic languages and the "oo" is the same as "poor". I hope that is helpful. Roger (talk) 12:31, 4 May 2008 (UTC)