What is the newest installment of 'Random Thoughts' on Physics Forums?

[1oldman2]

I was thinking of the name "jojo" as being cute

Me too! ironically "jojo" is the nickname I gave my wife in 1979, It's still her favorite. (I'm not really a 'tater hater either) Do you ever work with scratch board? It's one of my favorite mediums along with oils.

 

[1oldman2]

you don't need a BBQ. The usual unhealthy stuff will do.

This holds true with the exception of Barbecued Bison or elk backstrap, that stuffs so awesome it would make a vegan repent.

 

[fluidistic]

How to scratch the universe : give a pencil and sheets of paper to a physics geek genius.

 

[fresh_42]

This holds true with the exception of Barbecued Bison or elk backstrap, that stuffs so awesome it would make a vegan repent.

At least me. Guess you have some advantages on location though.

 

[zoobyshoe]

At least me. Guess you have some advantages on location though.

Yeah, it sounds very 'Wyoming' to me.

 

[Psinter]

Mustard seems to be good to lower the risk on developing some cancers. Nitrosamines can basically be found in all kinds of food that are salted and overheated, e.g. fries, crisps, steaks, and so on. you don't need a BBQ. The usual unhealthy stuff will do.

Oh, now I get it.

 

[Psinter]

If you go to google translate and put the word "the" alone and click the speaker to hear it, it pronounces it one way.

But if you write "the bird" and click the speaker to hear it, it pronounces the "the" in another way.

Now I'm really confused .

 

[fresh_42]

Write this bird.

 

[Psinter]

I don't know. It sounds different.

 

[fresh_42]

English and pronunciation are two different things. Or as George Bernard Shaw put it: $\text{ ghot }$ is pronounced $\text{ fish }$.
"gh" as in laugh, "o" as in women and "t" as in nation.

 

[Sophia]

If you go to google translate and put the word "the" alone and click the speaker to hear it, it pronounces it one way.

But if you write "the bird" and click the speaker to hear it, it pronounces the "the" in another way.

Now I'm really confused .

There's a rule for pronouncing the based on beginning of the following word. I remember the lesson we were taught it because the most popular (and the strictest) teacher was covering our teacher that day. However, I don't remember the rule anymore :-/

The whole article stuff is so complicated. Like the list of things that always or never use "the". The only thing I'm sure about articles is deciding whether to use a or an (only in case someone tells me there should be one of these. That's a fourth grade exercise ). In all other cases, it's pure guessing for me :D

 

[Pepper Mint]

I don't know. It sounds different.

ðə / ðɪ
I pronounce it /ðɪ / even when it stands before a consonant. I think I am incorrect but /ðɪ/ is easier for me to pronounce and it sounds cuter and stronger. I have to beautify any things that are mine. bhuhahha

 

[Ibix]

If you go to google translate and put the word "the" alone and click the speaker to hear it, it pronounces it one way.

But if you write "the bird" and click the speaker to hear it, it pronounces the "the" in another way.

Now I'm really confused .

"The" you hear pronounced with a short E (kind of sounds like "ther") and a long E (like "thee"). I'd use the first one for "the fish" but the second for "the elephant", just because it flows better. Also there are regional and national differences, and even personal differences, in pronounciation in English. As with any other language I imagine.

 

[fresh_42]

"The" you hear pronounced with a short E (kind of sounds like "ther") and a long E (like "thee"). I'd use the first one for "the fish" but the second for "the elephant", just because it flows better. Also there are regional and national differences, and even personal differences, in pronounciation in English. As with any other language I imagine.

Yes, but it gets strange to weird, when one single person all of a sudden has two completely different names like Bernie Sænders and Bernie Sɑ:nders.

 

[Ibix]

Yes, but it gets strange to weird, when one single person all of a sudden has two completely different names like Bernie Sænders and Bernie Sɑ:nders.

That's American regional pronounciation, which is extremely varied. Probably as a result of the country being settled by people from all over, I would guess.

 

[fresh_42]

I know. But we (usually) try to pronounce names according to their origin. So Sa:nders simply sounds wrong, esp. if the 'a:::' gets longer and longer (Becky Anderson, CNN). And there is a mistake that almost all Germans make and which I hate as well. Esp. if made by speakers of the news who should know it better. We say Los eɪngeləs (... shiver ...). And of course there is this ugly effect due to many hours of practice of when, why, where etc. Very becomes wherry. A mistake I admit to recognize myself often when it's been too late.

 

[Ibix]

Oh, in English we just assimilate your words. Resistance is futile. The capital of Bavaria is Munich, isn't it?

To some extent I think people have trouble hearing some subtle differences. I learned Russian at school, and I remember the teacher endlessly trying to get us to pronounce the letter ы. He'd say it's not "uy", it's "uy" and we'd all look at him blankly. I was in my second year of studying it before I could even hear a difference between the two sounds he was making. The distinction isn't important in English and I couldn't hear them properly, let alone reproduce them. Similarly, the Scots get annoyed by the English tendency to pronounce loch as lock. Again, I think a lot of English don't hear the difference because the correct pronounciation uses a sound that doesn't appear in English.

 

[Psinter]

There's a rule for pronouncing the based on beginning of the following word. I remember the lesson we were taught it because the most popular (and the strictest) teacher was covering our teacher that day. However, I don't remember the rule anymore :-/

The whole article stuff is so complicated. Like the list of things that always or never use "the". The only thing I'm sure about articles is deciding whether to use a or an (only in case someone tells me there should be one of these. That's a fourth grade exercise ). In all other cases, it's pure guessing for me :D

Probably like you, I took 11 years of English. And then a little more at university.

Never in all those years I was told any of what you have mentioned. I'm 100% sure of it. I was a good student and I'm more than sure I was never taught that.

English... I mean, look at this. The definitions are contradicting each other:

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

From what I can gather from Sophia's, Pepper Mint's, and Ibix's posts is that ordinarily, if the next word begins with a vowel, it is pronounced "thee" and if begins with a consonant it is pronounced "the".

Did I get it right?

 

[fresh_42]

Scots who speak English is a story by itself. I remember interviews with Amy Macdonald or John Higgins. I find it sounds a bit like we pronounce words. But I didn't get a word! I mean they eat fried Mars bars and haggis! (Sorry to all Scots who might read this.)
However, similar could be said about an interview with a Liverpool football player I once heard decades ago. I had trouble to determine it as English.

To remember the correct pronunciation of my famous whisky I built a bridge for myself: like-a-woman. Comes astonishingly close! Simply adjust the last syllable.

 

[fresh_42]

Did I get it right?

That would be too easy. I assume it is the same as with "a" and "an". It is an apple, theee apple, but a university, the university.
Correct this please, if wrong.

 

[1oldman2]

I could go to the creek and wash my clothes, or I could go to the crick and warsh my clothes, It just depends on whom I'm speaking with. some people would say creak but that's a native american tribe.

 

[fresh_42]

The capital of Bavaria is Munich, isn't it?

Oh dear! I already had this debate with a friend of mine from NM. I think it started with Los Angeles, Venice, or was it Venice Beach or both ...
Many names of cities are simply translated or at least adopted. You say Munich, I München, you say (sorry for misspelling it here) Lundon, we say London and we both don't say Pari for Paris. I like John Cleese's suggestion to call Pittsburgh Pittsborough. I love his letter to America.

 

[Ibix]

Many names of cities are simply translated or at least adopted. You say Munich, I München, you say (sorry for misspelling it here) Lundon, we say London and we both don't say Pari for Paris.

I just don't get the Munich thing, though. Mis-pronouncing Paris is one thing - I'm applying English pronunciation rules (such as they are) to a foreign word. I also get transliterating or dealing with sounds that don't exist in English. And total changes due to gunboat cartography.

But how do you get from München to Munich? OK, we dropped the umlaut. But how did the ending go missing? Where did the I come from? And why is the ch given a hardened sound when it is practically an sh in German?

 

[1oldman2]

I like John Cleese's suggestion to call Pittsburgh Pittsborough. I love his letter to America.

This is great, thanks for sharing. (I'm still laughing me arse off) < see right there spellcheck says I spelled ass wrong.

 

[collinsmark]

But how do you get from München to Munich?

For that matter, how did we get from Deutschland to Germany? That's even more puzzling.

I blame the Romans.

 

[1oldman2]

This coul

I blame the Romans.

This could apply to a large percentage of the "language barrier" recently discussed also.
Botched post, please disregard.

 

[fresh_42]

But how do you get from München to Munich? OK, we dropped the umlaut. But how did the ending go missing? Where did the I come from? And why is the ch given a hardened sound when it is practically an sh in German?

I have no idea. An online etymology dictionary says the word itself comes from Mönch / monk. At least this reflects the relationship between both languages. Munich looks like a compromise between München and monk. As to the 'sh'. It's actually not quite a 'sh'. More of a cat's spit (not the human way of pretending, the actual noise). Do you remember how many different ways of a 'sh' the Russian have? Although I am able to pronounce them I found it difficult to distinguish them.

We (both) do similar things to Italian cities. Firenze became Florence / Florenz, Venezia Venice / Venedig and Roma Rome / Rom.
But nobody would ever change Southampton. To me it's a fascinating topic but I don't know even where to start reading about it.

 

[1oldman2]

I blame the Romans.

This might apply to the "language barrier" recently discussed also.

 

[fresh_42]

For that matter, how did we get from Deutschland to Germany? That's even more puzzling.

I blame the Romans.

That's correct, Sir. Germany comes from the Roman Germania whereas Deutschland is derived from the Teutons, one of the many Germanic tribes.

 

[fresh_42]

This might apply to the "language barrier" recently discussed also.