

'W' Considered Harmful - jsundram
http://runningwithdata.com/post/3576752158/w

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BoppreH
Funny how it's a non-problem for some other languages, like Portuguese.

While English allows you to naturally create whole sentences using one-
syllable words, it's horribly hard to even put _two_ one-syllable words side-
by-side in Portuguese.

That, and "W" takes only two syllables to pronounce, making the grand total
six in an URL, the same number required to spell the dots (our domains end
with ".com.br", making it three times the two-syllable word "ponto"). And now
I remember "W" was not even officially considered a letter until recently, so
abbreviations with it are rare.

Before considering a letter harmful, please mind the rest of the world that is
also using it.

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jbooth
Nobody else says "dub dub dub"?

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jonkelly
It's funny because as I started to read this, my first thought was "I'm so
thankful that nobody says dub dub dub anymore." My second thought was "I
thought this was going to be about how difficult capital W is in deciding
character limits since it's so damn wide."

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sp332
_[W is] also the only letter whose name doesn’t include the sound it makes._

What about H?

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SkyMarshal
Well, technically there's a 'ch' sound in _aitch_ , so it sort of includes its
own sound.

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duke_sam
Also in some parts of the world there is a leading H sound, specifically
Ireland.

We also pronounce R like 'or' instead of 'are' which causes endless amusement
every time I use the abbreviation HR in the states.

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jjcm
I got scared for a second and thought that the headline referred to Tungsten.

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wglb
I have often wondered about a chicago business named W W Grainger, but alas it
appears that they did not go for www.ww.grainger.com, opting instead for
www.grainger.com.

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elwin
I found W's multisyllabic name annoying enough that I began calling it "way".
That includes the sound it makes, and it rhymes with A, J, and K.

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wladimir
Interesting choice :) The letter 'W' is called a 'way' (English
pronounciation) in Dutch.

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jacques_chester
In French, W is not expressed as "Double U", but as "Double V", which to me
makes much more sense.

However it appears infrequently in written French -- the "w" sound, as it
would be spoken in English, is written "ou" (eg "oui"). But in French, the
letter w is only really seen in loanwords.

As a pun hack, run together Us. I refer to my university as Triple-U A.

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artmageddon
Spanish also pronounces it as "Double V", though I can't say anything about
the frequency of it throughout the language.

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jacques_chester
Interesting, it might be a Romance language thing. Paging linguists! Paging
all HN linguists!

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Gertm
In dutch, W is pronounced more or less like you would pronounce 'wey' but
without the 'y' sound at the end. (the actual sound doesn't exist in english
afaik)

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gojomo
In rapid speech I find that 'W' is said less like 'dub ull yew' and more like
'dub uhya', and the 'uhya' is so compressed it's hardly like two distinct
syllables. But that might be my Texas showing.

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rdouble
In Minnesota, they always stretch out the dub-ull-yew. However, "rapid speech"
is not something you'd ever encounter there.

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phlux
WHAT! this isnt about Bush!??? but but but.... _everyone_ knows he was
harmful!

