[thaumasiotes]

> Exception/refinement: If you know the name is from an Indian language, read "a" as the "u" in "putt"

Used to be written that way; compare Calcutta -> Kolkata, suttee -> sati.

> (Examples used assume a General American accent that pronounces "cot" and "caught" differently)

In combination with the directive to read "a" as in "caught", I don't know how to take this except as a call to add lip rounding to the pronunciation of foreign "a". But that can't be right?