Are We English Stupid?

[jeebowhite]

...Or should I say english language? - I am english / british / whatever the politically correct term is to suggest that I live within the boundaries of the country, abide by the law and talk the lingo.... But wait... I have recently discovered we cant even do the alphabet correctly...!!!!!

for example. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST U V W XYZ.

U - Pronounced yoooooo

V - pronounced veeeeee

W - pronounced double yooooo

French

U - Pronounced oooooooh

V - Pronounced Vayy

W - Pronounced Doobla Vayy

Spanish:

U - Pronounced u

V - Pronounced uvay

W - Pronouced uvay doble (double uvay)

So why are we silly english people calling it "Double U" when clearly it doesnt look like UU unless your trying to draw a profound image of a saggy pair of somethings... when the rest of the world, seem so to see the letter w being what it is - two v's vv sat next to each other :D

Answers on a postcard please :P

Anyone who can provide a serious correct answer will live in my estimations quite highly, anyone else who thinks we should rip the mick out of our poor lingual abilities is more than welcome to partake :)

[DanGull]

Calling W 'double V' would not fit with the way the letters are dealt with at all.

V (V'ee) 'doubled' still creates the same sound (perhaps Vv'ee with the first sound extended, but not a different sound)

W is pronouned W'u, so it's not daft at all to my way of thinking.

[jeebowhite]

I just dont think it makes sense, since we say "double yoo" I dont see why "double vee" would be wrong. since thats what the Spanish and French do, and we half heartedly do it :P

[DanGull]

But the letter names and the sounds they create are separate (and the way they look has nothing to do with it). Whatever lots of people may say, the name of the letter H is not pronounced 'Haiche' it is pronounced 'Aiche'.

V, named Vee and pronounced V'ee or V'u.

W, named Double U and pronounced W'u.

U, named Yoo and pronounced Y'oo or Uh.

Phonetically speaking - W is much, much closer to U in terms of sound than it is to V.

[jeebowhite]

on that respect it is a fair comment, I just still dont quite understand why we are the only country to adopt double U rather than Double V?

[Jason 'Tweek' Batty]

I got one, is it Zed or is it Zee?

[DanGull]

It's Zed. Our American cousins use 'zee' which is why the ABC song has 'zee' at the end of it. It makes me a cry a tiny bit every time I hear it.

[Stoney871]

It's just typical that we gave our Colonial cousins a perfectly robust language and they proceeded to singlehandedly destroy it because they're too lazy to pronounce words and vowels correctly.

Just get one to pronounce Worcestershire sauce and Tomato and see the carnage.

[jeebowhite]

lol, so very true I personally call it "Wuster Sauce" but thats because it would tongue tie me to try and pronouce its queens english name.

So Who's at fault, is it us, or is is the 'foreigners' ?

Should the pronunciation be as we say it, or have we actually done something wrong? :P

[Stoney871]

Pronounciations and spelling do change over time, look back to Victorian and Elizabethan text to see what i mean.

[GSM]

lol, so very true I personally call it "Wuster Sauce" but thats because it would tongue tie me to try and pronouce its queens english name.

So Who's at fault, is it us, or is is the 'foreigners' ?

Should the pronunciation be as we say it, or have we actually done something wrong? :P

I don't think you can say anybody is wrong. As long as somebody who is listening to you understands what you intended to communicate, then what you've said is right, I say. Even if it does make the recipient cringe!

But then I can hardly talk, we Scots are quite responsible for !Removed! with the English language, although we probably did so more to merge it with our Celtic and Gaelic backgrounds than out of laziness or error. The Americans don't really have such an excuse...

Anyway, I reckon home-grown yobs have done more bastardisations of the English language over a generation than the Americans have in 200 odd years.

[DanGull]

The title of this thread is bugging me actually considering its topic. It is a statement, not a question and therefore should not have a single question mark, let alone three.

[jeebowhite]

Fair comment Dan, does the change made seem to be a bit more... reflective?

as for the scots, well, I just sympathise with Siri and the likes who cant understand you :P