Assume v. Presume

The word favor is centuries older than favour. We dropped the pronunciation of a final r, the Americans didn't. We changed the proninciation of path and such words, not them. Their pronunciation is generally closer to the original than ours, and less slovenly, eg, dictionary. So who is right and who is wrong?

Just playing devil's advocate here.
 
Or bewilder.

Ex. Find a British version. You will need

a) An animal whose singular and plural are the same
b) A region with the same name
c) A transitive verb with the same spelling.
 
Supposing there was a place called Squirrel:

Squirrel squirrels squirrel squirrels​

Or a place called Quiver:

Quiver quivers quiver​
 
Black Hole said:
The buffalo sentence is incomprehensible without explanation, even if you are a US English speaker!
Click to expand...
True, I didn't get it without

buffalo from Buffalo [that] buffalo(verb) buffalo from Buffalo, buffalo(verb) buffalo from Buffalo
 
In the Greek alphabet, the letters have names separate from their sounds: alpha, beta, gamma... omega. In the English alphabet, the only names we have for the letters are transliterations of their sounds: ay, bee, cee... zed* (I hardly know how to spell them).

Why is this? Are the Greek alphabet names an English invention and the Greeks have the same problem as us, or do the Greeks use these names too (and originally)? Do our letters have names I don't know about? Are they given names in languages that use different alphabets? How does this extend to other alphabets I know nothing of - eg Cyrillic?

* zed appears to be the odd one out, the American "zee" fitting the pattern better. So much of American English dates back to Middle English through the Pilgrim Fathers, I wonder if "zed" is a modern deviation.
 
Very interesting question. Greek was derived from Phoenician, which had letter names, possibly with a meaning derived from hieroglyphs that preceded them. Phoenician was the first alphabet to have vowels.

As our alphabet was in turn derived from greek, I would guess that the names carried over too.

I used the greek alphabet a lot as a mathematician, but a greek student took me to task about our modern pronunciation of the names, eg, iota is yota in modern greek!
 
Mike0001 said:
eg, iota is yota in modern greek!
Click to expand...
Thought that was a Star Wars character with big ears. Yoda oh sorry you said yota not :D

Lot of Greek letters in my research work as well. Don't remember my supervisor (Greek) complaining about the pronunciation.
 
EEPhil said:
Thought that was a Star Wars character with big ears. Yoda oh sorry you said yota not :D

Lot of Greek letters in my research work as well. Don't remember my supervisor (Greek) complaining about the pronunciation.
Click to expand...
We say beat her, they say betta. Let's call the whole thing off.
 
Inspired by The Papers on BBC News:

You're a Tom or You're at 'em?

(Euratom)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top