Assume v. Presume

[Deleted member 473]

Random thought for Sunday:

How do you spell (for example) "H"? All the Greek letters have English spellings (alpha, beta, gamma, delta etc), but we never seem to spell out the English alphabet. I think the difference is that we have English names for the Greek letters, it might be rather different trying to spell the Greek letter sounds in Greek.

Do foreign languages (particularly those that do not use the Latin alphabet) have names for English letters? Why do we not have names for our letters separate from the sounds?

Aitch North and South.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_alphabet#Letter_names

I was once told by a Greek that our spellings and pronunciations of the Greek alphabet were all wrong.

Greek alphabet (Modern pronunciation)

 

[Black Hole]

I was once told by a Greek that our spellings and pronunciations of the Greek alphabet were all wrong.

They're all right, just not necessarily in the right order the same as the Greeks'.

 

[MikeSh]

A non-sequitur but thought this was a place that would appreciate it:
http://m.xkcd.com/1322/

 

[Black Hole]

 

[Ezra Pound]

A non-sequitur but thought this was a place that would appreciate it:
http://m.xkcd.com/1322/

I was expecting a Wiley Miller cartoon

 

[Deleted member 473]

Heard someone on the Today programme say that the Snowden leaks were considered by the US as far more damaging than the Wikipedia ones.

 

[MikeSh]

I was expecting a Wiley Miller cartoon

I read them too

 

[MikeSh]

Heard someone on the Today programme say that the Snowden leaks were considered by the US as far more damaging than the Wikipedia ones.

I don't think you mean what you wrote there

 

[Black Hole]

I think the point is that that's what somebody said.

 

[MikeSh]

I think the point is that that's what somebody said.

Ah, right.

 

[Deleted member 473]

Ah, right.

I mean what I write, but sometimes don't write what I mean.

Apparently, it has happened before:

http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/blahg/2010/11/wikipedia-is-not-wikileaks/

BBC again!

 

[Deleted member 473]

Unalienable or inalienable? God has decreed there are no true synonyms, so what subtle difference is there?

 

[Black Hole]

Come now - you can hardly call an adopted incorrect spelling a synonym!

 

[Deleted member 473]

Come now - you can hardly call an adopted incorrect spelling a synonym!

Massive fail! You missed this:

http://adask.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/unalienable-vs-inalienable/

 

[Black Hole]

So it was a trick question then. It did cross my mind there might be a distinction in their definition.

 

[Deleted member 473]

So it was a trick question then. It did cross my mind there might be a distinction in their definition.

Not a trick question, I only just found the distinction myself, but doubt if anyone observes it.

I would have guessed they were alternative variants and exact synonyms.

 

[Black Hole]

I would have guessed they were alternative variants and exact synonyms.

Same as me then (disagreements about the definition of synonym aside).

 

[Deleted member 473]

Aerial, antenna, Arial or Ariel???

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Locati...ers-St_Boswells_Scottish_Borders_Scotlan.html

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1490585

That little mermaid is up on my roof again...will she ever stop machine washing those gazelles? Perhaps it's the printers' ink in their fur?

 

[Deleted member 473]

URL or URI?

 

[af123]

Isn't URL a specific case of URI?