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Showerthoughts_Mod t1_jabfqy9 wrote

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DeadBornWolf t1_jabg8vv wrote

Fun fact: Not in german. In german we call “W” “weh”, but we call “Y” “Ypsilon” like the greek letter, pronounced “Üpsilon”

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Little-Variation8268 t1_jabkd2f wrote

OK. So W has 3 syllables BUT the words world, wide & web only have 1 syllable each SO, theoretically, it takes longer the say the abbreviation 'WWW' than it does to say the words 'world wide web.'

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Unlucky-Insect-8390 t1_jabkhhz wrote

Depends on the language. In Spanish there’s several letters of the alphabet that have more than one syllable.

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DeadBornWolf t1_jabljkh wrote

Replying to enceps2 (#2,093,794)

Well, I know that you can pronounce it “zee” or “zed” but i’m never sure with one is british english and which is american english. but maybe i can memorize it this time 😂

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strategyzrox t1_jablt40 wrote

Ah, yes, "W". The three sylable letter that means two "U"s, looks like two "V"s, and prominetly features the "Y" sound. At least the Alphabet's greatest monstrosity has the self-awareness to renounce its own sound, which even feels funny in your mouth.

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Svengahli t1_jabn18f wrote

W is on the only letter with more than one letter in it cause it's a "double u."

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j0nascode t1_jabne3s wrote

that's just because you don't have Ypsilon or i grec or the Greek alphabet

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mdcundee t1_jabrsu8 wrote

Reminds me of an old documentary about Bush Jr. that I once watched, where he started by saying: „My name is George W. Bush. Double you. Like, two times you.“ and continued saying: „The W stands for Walker. A man who walks.“

I loved that flick :)

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curious_s t1_jabsbgm wrote

Can confirm, I went through the entire alphabet in my head to check this.

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That-Brain-Nerd t1_jabsqp3 wrote

Fun fact: you just ran through the alphabet in your head to double check.

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jariwoud t1_jabt5bo wrote

English is (as far as i know) the only language that does this double u bullshit. Just call it the wee or so

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Aramor42 t1_jabtsap wrote

Replying to DeadBornWolf (#2,092,738)

In Dutch we say either iegrek (don't know if that's how you spell it, but that's how you pronounce it) or Griekse IJ (Greek Y, except we use the other Y sound which you get by writing ij)

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BobBelcher2021 t1_jabv9s7 wrote

In English, anyways. French has W and Y with more than one syllable, and Spanish has F, H, J, L, M, N, Ñ, R, W, X, Y, and Z with multiple syllables - and possibly other letters, I forget.

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Shudnawz t1_jabvq88 wrote

In Swedish, W is "dubbel-v", double v. But instead of going "dubbel-v, dubbel-v, dubbel-v" we just say "v, v, v".

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AdrianW3 t1_jabx63e wrote

But what about el-em-en-oh-pee? That's 5 syllables right there.

;)

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jellohello13 t1_jabyb64 wrote

Replying to Karl-o-mat (#2,092,855)

What? Y isn't just the short version of ü, it's pronounced long like in the word Typ. Also ü can be long or short on its own, so what do you mean, "For a good reason." Actually, the only reason y exists in german because of greek loan words. And while it is usually pronounced like an ü it's also pronounced like a y in english, due to newer loan words.

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Wwwweeeeeeee t1_jabyn46 wrote

Unless you pronounce it "whuh", which I have heard in extremely rare occasions.

In Great Britain.

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Excellent-Map-3412 t1_jabz4sa wrote

Replying to DeadBornWolf (#2,092,738)

In Turkish we have Ğ whis is a soft G. It's almost always silent though. Like the word "dağ" (mountain in Turkish) is pronounced like "daa" and the letter actually becomes noticeable when you say something like "dağa" (to the mountain)

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dj_neon_reaper t1_jac0klz wrote

I am a fucking idiot. I was sounding it out instead of saying the actual letter. So i was like "wu is only one syllable though?"...

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elPocket t1_jac0qhg wrote

Replying to gaint_dwarf (#2,095,713)

We in germany call "w" we, as in west.
Only you english speakers could not grasp that the w is not a double v, which the romans used for u.

So for us, its wewewe(dot)whatev(dot)org

Yes, it sounds kinda like a car engine not starting.

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swissiws t1_jac2syh wrote

in italian we spell it "VU DOPPIA" that is "DOUBLE V" making it the only letter that is spelt with two different words!

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Nihmen t1_jac30ul wrote

Replying to someonepoorsays (#2,097,096)

The Dutch W sounds closer to a V, where the English is closer to an O. The W has a vibration to it, which makes quite a difference. You might not be able to get the sound though. Children spend literal years to learn the intricate motor skills required to make certain sounds. That's why we don't tend to lose accents.

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Celestial_MoonDragon t1_jac3hov wrote

How many went through the alphabet to see if this is true? Just me? Okay, I'll show myself out.

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Shudnawz t1_jac5t8d wrote

Replying to superkoning (#2,098,615)

It has existed for a few hundred years at least. It's common in German, to which Swedish is closely related and we've swapped words with each other for a very long time.

Tho, it's not that common in modern day native Swedish words, no.

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superkoning t1_jac61wk wrote

Replying to Aramor42 (#2,098,665)

Really?

Spell "ijs" ... "lange ij - s"

Spell "eis" ... "korte ei - s"

Spell "x + y = 5" ... "x plus ij is vijf"

​

Excpetions:

Spell "dyslexie, hymne, gymnasium, idylle, mysterie, pygmeeën, symfonie,symposium, symptoom, ypsilon." ... then I would say "griekse ij" and maybe maybe "ygrek" ... as there are no dots on the y (unlike ij)

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AwfulHonesty t1_jac6j8e wrote

English W is so weird. In my language it just like a V but said in a deeper tone

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Aramor42 t1_jac72f7 wrote

Replying to superkoning (#2,098,792)

Yeah but the exceptions are actually with an y. Ijs and eis are not spelled with an y, so when spelling those out one wouldn't say ygrek or Griekse ij.

I was only talking about the letter y, not ei or ij.

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pavelvito t1_jac74yg wrote

W, as well as thestter Y, also don't have their own sound associated with them. Whenever you say a word starting with either W or Y, the first sound that come out is either "ooo" or "eee". Consider the word yes. "Are you coming to the party?" "(eee)yes I am.

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superkoning t1_jac7564 wrote

Replying to Shudnawz (#2,098,723)

>Tho, it's not that common in modern day native Swedish words, no.

I thought so: "vattenfall" is waterfall / Wasserfall / waterval. So in Swedish a v is used where other Germanic languages use a w?

Next question: is there a "v" pronounced as a soft f in Swedish?

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nixalo t1_jac7i7f wrote

My grandparents would have disagreed and countered with "ar-ra".

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TrumpetSolo93 t1_jac7llu wrote

Replying to henrycharleschester (#2,098,381)

My school started doing that, but half way through the year. It was like it was an overnight decision.

Confused the hell out of me, suddenly Ayy Bee Cee wasn't good enough and the teachers just expected you to know.

Even at the time I remember thinking that it was probably an updated curriculum, better for kids, but that the teachers were handling it poorly.

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danh138 t1_jacac0n wrote

It also has a complete word in it’s pronunciation: “Double.” Does that mean all the letters in double existed and were being used before we invented W?

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DeadBornWolf t1_jacho8u wrote

Replying to NaughtyJimFace (#2,101,622)

I can try and spell it out, it’s not that different to the english version, just pronounced a bit differently:

(the „eh“ is pronounced somewhat like the „ea“ in bear or pear)

Ah, Beh, Ceh, Deh, Eh, Eff, Geh, Hah, I (pronounced like the english E), Jott, Kah, Ell, Em, Enn, Oh, Peh, Koo (Q), Err, Ess, Teh, Uhh, Vao, Weh, Iks (X), Üpsilon (Y), Tsett (Z)

and then we have the Umlaute Ä, Ü, Ö, which are not included in our standard ABC-Song. And there’s „ß“ as a sharp „S“, which is not used as commonly anymore but still is standard for some words

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Omnizoom t1_jacrb82 wrote

W is weird because it’s the only one that also phonetically not using it’s self or it’s sound , it’s literally pronounced double you

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