Words that just look strange

mamemeister · Post by **mamemeister** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 9:26 pm 0

I once just could not figure what letters made the word 'yet'.

I was totally flummoxed for a good 5 mins or so unitl it suddenly sprung to mind.

Weird.

Guru-Meditation · Post by **Guru-Meditation** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 10:13 pm 0

Yak wrote:
zip accident wrote:In the pronunciation stakes, what about "route", the way to a place, and "rout", a severe military defeat, involving soldiers running away from the enemy.
The Yanks pronounce those two the same, which is bloody funny when you hear it.

They pronounce router rout-er. Which makes IT conversations about networks odd with me saying route-er and them saying rout-er.

defsdoor · Post by **defsdoor** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 10:16 pm 0

Aye but what do they know ? They look in the meeeaaaa every day.

Ollie · Post by **Ollie** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 11:18 pm 0

Along similar lines, if you stare at yourself in the mirror for long enough, suddenly it doesn't look like you any more. Far freakier than what happens to a word when you repeat it.

Penguin · Post by **Penguin** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 11:24 pm 0

The pronunciation is different, but no-one has explained why "invade them because they have weapons of mass destruction" in US English transalated to "Follow along despite the wishes of the UK public and fuck up a country for 20yrs".

On a lighter note, the "Router"/"Rowter" thing can be annoying but let's respect accent differences. I'd never tell a Geordie how to talk English anymore than I would an American.

.. Did have an annoying experience in NYC last year mind where the shop-assistant didn't understand my Home Counties accent, and asked me to "Speak English please". The put-down temptation was obvious but I'm not that kinda guy who wants an argument when it doesn't matter. Made me angry, but there is bigger things in life to get annoyed about.

Any other UK folks had similar "what ya saying" experiences in the US let me know (so I don't feel a freak!) ??

Guru-Meditation · Post by **Guru-Meditation** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:16 am 0

Penguin wrote:Did have an annoying experience in NYC last year mind where the shop-assistant didn't understand my Home Counties accent, and asked me to "Speak English please". The put-down temptation was obvious but I'm not that kinda guy who wants an argument when it doesn't matter. Made me angry, but there is bigger things in life to get annoyed about.

Don't they speak English that bears a closer semblance to 17th century English than us?

That said, I'll never ever ever accept carmel or aluminum. color/colour isn't too bad because at least they sound alike.

merman · Post by **merman** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:48 am 0

I am constantly unsuccessful at spelling unsucesful...

Bog · Post by **Bog** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:58 am 0

Guru-Meditation wrote:
Yak wrote:
zip accident wrote:In the pronunciation stakes, what about "route", the way to a place, and "rout", a severe military defeat, involving soldiers running away from the enemy.
The Yanks pronounce those two the same, which is bloody funny when you hear it.

They pronounce router rout-er. Which makes IT conversations about networks odd with me saying route-er and them saying rout-er.[/quote

So does Auerole, and he's got a doctorate from Cambridge. That muddies the waters a bit.

Wibble · Post by **Wibble** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:05 am 0

Bog wrote: So does Auerole, and he's got a doctorate from Cambridge. That muddies the waters a bit.

At the AMS UUNET NOC (may she rest in piece), we used route-er. Then, when communicating with ther German OC, we had to use rout-er. Speaking with the French, I'm not sure what they wanted, but route-er was the sane choice. The Swedish preferred rout-er, the Belgian ops route-er. Lastly, whenever we actually talked to the US guys in Ashburn, we had to use rout-er again.

Not surprising we preferred using IRC.

To me, it'll always be route-er (rooter). It just feels right.

-W

Bog · Post by **Bog** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:10 am 0

Well, quite Wibs - I say "Root" for "The route to the shop" or "My traceroute says it had forty-seven bounces - I am on NTL after all".

However, being outnumbered 5:1 by the people who invented the Internet in the first place, if they want to call them rout-erz, I feel obliged to please the majority. It is a democracy, after all.

Guru-Meditation · Post by **Guru-Meditation** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:21 am 0

Wibble wrote:
Bog wrote: So does Auerole, and he's got a doctorate from Cambridge. That muddies the waters a bit.
At the AMS UUNET NOC (may she rest in piece), we used route-er. Then, when communicating with ther German OC, we had to use rout-er. Speaking with the French, I'm not sure what they wanted, but route-er was the sane choice. The Swedish preferred rout-er, the Belgian ops route-er. Lastly, whenever we actually talked to the US guys in Ashburn, we had to use rout-er again.

Not surprising we preferred using IRC.

To me, it'll always be route-er (rooter). It just feels right.

-W

French would be route-er, seeing as the French version of the word is almost the same, just with a longer ou and -er sound

Yak · Post by **Yak** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:37 am 0

Bog wrote:
However, being outnumbered 5:1 by the people who invented the Internet in the first place, if they want to call them rout-erz, I feel obliged to please the majority. It is a democracy, after all.

Bollocks to that

. Simply because more people do $x than me inclines me not one whit to do $x if I don't want to

.

ThetaReactor · Post by **ThetaReactor** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:54 am 0

Yeah. Routers were invented in California. We pronounce it any damn way we like

Then again, my own pronunciation of "route" is rather bizarre, should I think of it. If I'm referring to a road, it's root. If I'm speaking of any other path, it's rowt.

They say rowt on Star Trek. That makes it proper.

Hajile · Post by **Hajile** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:21 pm 0

Buoy. Pronounced boo-ee. What the Jeebus?

Guru-Meditation wrote:Don't they speak English that bears a closer semblance to 17th century English than us?

That's what people say, yes, but how on earth did they work that one out without a microphone that can break the light barrier? I think someone just made it up so no-one would make fun of Kevin Costner's performance in Robin Hood: Prince of Theives.

Didn't work, though.