I thought the original way to spell things had the u for whatever historic etymological reasons and the Americans just got rid of them cos they wanted to simplify whatever spelling.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 12:17 (four years ago) link
I am a minimalist and prefer the American chili, aluminum and erbs. I do like my 'u's tho
― ogmor, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 12:41 (four years ago) link
Yeah it was Noah Webster xpost
― Number None, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 13:07 (four years ago) link
also famously tried to get rid of the 'k' in 'knee'
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 14 August 2019 13:50 (four years ago) link
Yeah, didn't mean to suggest that the US spellings came first.
― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:16 (four years ago) link
Calling the last letter "zee": was that Webster too?
Does anybody call Billy Gibbons famous band by its English pronunciation?
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:18 (four years ago) link
That very question was posed in the classic 1992 book, Wayne's World: Extreme Close-Up.
― Come and Rock Me, Hot Potatoes (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:20 (four years ago) link
I haven't in the past, but I will from now on.
― Euripedes' Trousers (Tom D.), Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:23 (four years ago) link
the way I understood it was that English just didn't have standard spelling when the USA became independent and the UK and USA just standardised differently, but at around the same time, so neither spelling predates the other. and UK English went with "u"s because French was seen as posh and therefore better or something
― Colonel Poo, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:25 (four years ago) link
zee is pre-webster (earliest printed appearance in a 1677 spelling book)* but NW gave it his seal (s/b seel)of approval and it then landed solidly and began to spread. sesame street took it wide.
zed derives from french zede (from greek zeta); zee is assumed to be "well we say bee, dee, tee etc so it must be zee
*not sure if book wz UK or US but either way this aurely means it wz said "zee" in the uk in 1677 then also (as well as "zed"): in fact the diff might be a class thing (only posh ukanians know greek)
"Other pronunciations of “z” you might hear in the English speaking world include: zod, zad, zard, ezod, izzard, and uzzard"
― mark s, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:26 (four years ago) link
tag yrself
― mark s, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:28 (four years ago) link
Does anyone other than Scottish people say jy /dʒaɪ/ for 'J' anymore?
― Euripedes' Trousers (Tom D.), Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:29 (four years ago) link
xp ps all those facts are from here: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/10/why-do-the-british-pronounce-z-as-zed/
― mark s, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:30 (four years ago) link
i omitted that the varient of the sesame street alphabet song adapted to affirm zed over zee switches the coda as follows
out: know you know your ABCs, won't you wing a long with mein: here's some sugar for your bread, eat it all up before you're dead
― mark s, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:33 (four years ago) link
I found out today (though I'm not shocked), that the snow leopard is also known as the 'ounce', believed to be from from lynx -> lonce -> l'once
― Andrew Farrell, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:33 (four years ago) link
P sure it was "zed" on Canadian Sesame Street. Was there no UK version?
― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:41 (four years ago) link
famous rapper dʒaɪzed
― phil neville jacket (darraghmac), Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:52 (four years ago) link
YYZ by Rush is pronounced y-y-zed as far as I know, the Canucks clearly know what's up
― crumhorn invasion (Matt #2), Wednesday, 14 August 2019 14:53 (four years ago) link
there is a bone called a hyoid bone that is in your neck, and it has no points of articulation with other bones.
― Hunt3r, Thursday, 15 August 2019 16:59 (four years ago) link
that's what they want you to think
― Number None, Thursday, 15 August 2019 17:48 (four years ago) link
'Ounce' is a cryptic crossword staple.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Thursday, 15 August 2019 18:47 (four years ago) link
cf the Latin name pantera uncia (prev. uncia uncia, it's got a good beat to it)
fun (?) fact (?): smaller wildcat the oncilla's name is derived from "ounce", a little snow leopard, but the ocelot's name is apparently thought to come from the Aztec and thus be unrelated to oncilla, even though both the name and the cat look p. similar to me
I saw an oncilla last week (in a zoo, I'm afraid) and I <3 them all
― a passing spacecadet, Thursday, 15 August 2019 19:58 (four years ago) link
To curry Favel.as an act of obseqience to royalty people used to go off and groom a mythical horse apparently.BUt the mythology behind Favel fell out of circulation so people replaced the name with the word favour.
― Stevolende, Friday, 16 August 2019 15:05 (four years ago) link
that's a great one!
― Number None, Friday, 16 August 2019 15:43 (four years ago) link
Is it too late to go back?
― jmm, Friday, 16 August 2019 15:43 (four years ago) link
I discovered this recently but was just reminded that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a total Sherlock-head and wrote a latter-day Holmes novel.
― Amply Drizzled with Pure Luxury (Old Lunch), Friday, 16 August 2019 16:00 (four years ago) link
Yes! My dad is also a Sherlock head and has commiserated with Kareem on several occasions.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, 16 August 2019 17:31 (four years ago) link
kareem is an extremely interesting guy
― mookieproof, Friday, 16 August 2019 17:59 (four years ago) link
He wrote one of the new Veronica Mars episodes.
― Yerac, Friday, 16 August 2019 18:03 (four years ago) link
elementary, my dear Colasanto
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Friday, 16 August 2019 18:05 (four years ago) link
I only learned today, while crossing one of them, that there are two Severn Bridges.
― van dyke parks generator (anagram), Friday, 16 August 2019 21:07 (four years ago) link
Could perhaps as well be in the "puns you had missed" thread but
Darth Vader's second name is simply the Dutch word for "father".
― anatol_merklich, Friday, 16 August 2019 22:11 (four years ago) link
(as written, not spoken obv)
― anatol_merklich, Friday, 16 August 2019 22:12 (four years ago) link
― TS: “8:05” vs. “905” (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 17 August 2019 01:11 (four years ago) link
lilith slept with niles? wtf
― mookieproof, Friday, 23 August 2019 04:58 (four years ago) link
lol
― Seany's too Dyche to mention (jim in vancouver), Friday, 23 August 2019 05:39 (four years ago) link
ha ha
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Friday, 23 August 2019 07:24 (four years ago) link
2+ tamales, 1 tamal.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 24 August 2019 22:55 (four years ago) link
"lousy" from louse/lice
just now, duh
― The Ravishing of ROFL Stein (Hadrian VIII), Sunday, 25 August 2019 01:42 (four years ago) link
traceable in the usage meaning "infested" i.e. "that place is just LOUSY with cops!"
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 25 August 2019 08:18 (four years ago) link
well I guess you'd expect the s in a descriptive form of a given word to be soft. Maybe if it was pronounced more like loussy you'd get it clearer. Does adding a y to the end of a word tend to harden the letter before it, pronunciationwise?
― Stevolende, Sunday, 25 August 2019 08:45 (four years ago) link
I think it varies? Most people don’t say greasy to rhyme with easy eg
― YouGov to see it (wins), Sunday, 25 August 2019 08:49 (four years ago) link
except in yeats
― phil neville jacket (darraghmac), Sunday, 25 August 2019 08:51 (four years ago) link
(xp) Not sure about that tbh.
― Boulez, vous couchez avec moi? (Tom D.), Sunday, 25 August 2019 08:56 (four years ago) link
Or to be more specific changing a word from noun to adjective does it harden an end syllable's soft letter. Language pronunciation tends to change to what flows naturally off the tongue over time. & it can obscure etymological evolution, innit?
― Stevolende, Sunday, 25 August 2019 09:04 (four years ago) link
a good example of where changing a word from noun to adjective fails to harden the end syllable's soft letter is louse and lousy, which goes in exactly the opposite direction (except no doubt in the dialects where this doesn't happen)
― mark s, Sunday, 25 August 2019 09:14 (four years ago) link
id use both words either way tbh, tryin to think why/when and it may be depending on following consonant or somesuch
― phil neville jacket (darraghmac), Sunday, 25 August 2019 09:31 (four years ago) link
I might use a z sound for louse if I’m saying “louse up the joint”. Maybe. I’ve never said that I don’t think
― YouGov to see it (wins), Sunday, 25 August 2019 09:41 (four years ago) link
I would very much see a soft s as in louse as not being a hard s which is more like zee in lousy.
what you're saying would be the noun would be louz and the adjective would be loussee. I haven't heard anybody talk like that.
So I'm wondering why you're making what appears to be a contrarian statement.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 25 August 2019 09:44 (four years ago) link