Fire-bellied “toads” (Bombina) make what sounds like trying really hard to say [u] while keeping your mouth closed. That must have some relation to their German name Unke(n pl.). And the Polish word for them,kumak(from onomatopoeickum-kum). Someone should have mentioned βρεκεκ...
NEW YORK —Spike Lee’s father, Bill, stands at the oven on the first floor of his brownstone in Fort Greene, cooking a noontime breakfast for his young son Arnold, shooing away some of their 19 cats, and talking about his family--about everyone except Spike Lee. He talks about his ...