> My sister is an alto. In Spanish, and maybe some other languages, that means "high." Yet an alto sings at a lower pitch than a soprano. Why do they call a lower pitched voice "high?"

Because alto is a shortened version of the actual term, which is contralto. That derives from Italian (contra=against and alto=high) because it was originally used to denote a lower voice set against the soprano (which means "above," by the way.)

Ahh, the joys of online encyclopedias.

~Mina "but I sure sound knowledgeable, huh?" moon