Yesterday, while at work, I discovered the following:
In the English alphabet all letters have one syllable (a, b, c, d...), except "w" or "double-u", which has three. So what is so special about fancy-schmancy "W", that it has to stand out like that from its peers?
Then I looked further:
In the German alphabet all letters have one syllable also, except one, which is not "w", but in fact "y". This one the Germans call "Ypsilon" - kind of like "oops-ee-lon". So what makes this little letter "Y" so special, that it narcisistically boasts 3 syllables?
Again I looked further and I found:
In the French alphabet there are actually TWO letters that have more than one syllable, guess which ones: Yes, that's right, "w" and "y". Both of them!! "W" sports three syllables, sounds quite similar to "dooble-wa", while "Y" has two (sounds like "ee-gratt").
So what does all this mean? Is it a conspiracy of letters? Or is it just coincidence?
I don't think so.
I bet your ass when we look at Spanish and Italian for example, we will find more evidence!
But now for something completely different:
Today I learned a new word in Cree, which is quite awesome. When I mentioned this word while standing in line at the check-out it created much laughther and joy among all the people present. The word, if you say it, sounds quite like: "we-checkoway"
It can be used to insult people in a friendly way, because it means: Smelly testicles. Actually it seems to encompass a whole range of things from smelly testicles over stinky nuts all the way up to shitty balls.
Now I am going to combine that with the other Cree words I have learned so far:
Mushaway we-checkoway!
Ekosani.
Fucking smelly balls!
Have a nice day.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
You must be working alone in the marking room again...so much time to ponder these deep questions...what is the meaning of life?...How many syllables are there in each letter?
I love your growing "crew" vocabulary!
Me likey!
-Anne
Post a Comment