sub deaccent {
    my $phrase = shift;
    return $phrase unless ( $phrase =~ y/\xC0-\xFF// ); #short circuit if no upper chars
    # translterate what we can (for speed)
    $phrase =~ tr/ÀÁÂÃÄÅàáâãäåÇçÈÉÊËèéêëÌÍÎÏìíîïÒÓÔÕÖØòóôõöøÑñÙÚÛÜùúûüÝÿý/AAAAAAaaaaaaCcEEEEeeeeIIIIiiiiOOOOOOooooooNnUUUUuuuuYyy/;
    # and substitute the rest
    my %trans = qw(Æ AE æ ae Þ TH þ th Ð TH ð th ß ss);
    $phrase =~ s/([ÆæÞþÐðß])/$trans{$1}/g;
    return $phrase;
}