Of course, given the failure to anticipate that the first version of OxyContin would be abused in the way it was, there is a considerable caution about pronouncing version two a success.

FORBES: Is The Era Of OxyContin Abuse Over?

Advocates of early entry were cheered up this month when Robin Cook, who had previously offered few public thoughts on the euro, made a speech in Tokyo pronouncing the single currency a success so far.

ECONOMIST: Smothering the euro debate | The

The French parliament has a track record of pronouncing on historical events, ranging from the Holocaust, to slavery.

BBC: French bill re-opens old wounds with Turkey

After the US pullout from Iraq in December 2011, relations between Ankara and Baghdad have sharply deteriorated, with Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi prime minister, pronouncing Turkey a "hostile state".

CNN: Turkey emerges as true Iraq war victor

As one of the fathers of European humanism, he gave his name to a university in his native Rotterdam, to a programme that helps young Europeans study abroad and to a controversial way of pronouncing Greek.

ECONOMIST: Our new blog on religion

Being ignorant before pronouncing is indeed usually a mistake, whatever the examples that modern politics provides us with.

FORBES: But Every Generation Does Indeed Exhaust Its Mineral Reserves

"It's a good system, " said Lars Svensson, Bangkok-based marketing director, who appears to relish properly pronouncing words that sound especially unsavory to Thai ears.

WSJ: IKEA's Products Make Shoppers Blush in Thailand