I've heard it used all three ways on the BBC, as well. The BBC's stringer in the Lebanon uses "Hezbollah". Since she's from the area, I'd guess at her pronunciation.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I don't think I've heard the word stringer used in this context, although the meaning is pretty clear. Is that a British usage, or do I just not watch enough news?
I heard it on NPR today, and it was pronounced: Hiz-bol-LAH. In the past I've heard it pronounced: Hez-bol-LAH.
I suspect we pronounce a lot of words wrong from that part of the world. In the U.S., for example, most people pronounce Muslim as: MUZ-lim, whereas the actual pronunciation is MOOSE-lim; this was according to our expert on Jordan who consulted with us about correct behavior around the Princess who came to visit us.
A "stringer" is a local journalist, paid a retainer by a news corporation to report on news from their area. Their reports generally appear as "From our correspondent in Dogpatch" or wherever. I don't think it's a UK-only phrase, more journalist's jargon.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
The word is from Arabic, which has many dialects, and uses a different alphabet than English does. The article on Hizbollah in Wikipedia has a footnote on the word itself which says:
quote:
The stress is most commonly placed on the final syllable (and this pronunciation is given in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary). Other transliterations include Hizbullah, Hizbollah and Hezballah, Hizballah, Hisbollah, Hizb Allah, (used by Al Jazeera). 'Hizb' (party) is the Modern Standard Arabic pronunciation, and 'Hezb' is closer to Persian and to Lebanese dialect. The name is derived from a Qur'anic ayat (verse) referring to those who belong to and follow the 'Party of God'.
