Page 1 of 3

Unnecessary use of the umlaut

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:16 am
by mike
I have noticed a certain pattern in the creation of new LÖVE-related projects: people tend to use the umlaut characters (ä ë ï ö ü, etc) with an incredible frequency. I understand that you all love the umlaut and feel that it's very metal to use it, but I would submit that you diminish it's power with every ünnëcëssärÿ äẗẗäcḧmënẗ ẗö lëttërs ẅhërë ïẗ mäkës nö sënsë. The reason we use it in LÖVE is because it's FUCKING METAL, but also because in Swedish (the neighboring country), the Ö is equivalent to our Ø, meaning that it sounds like we're laying "luuv" (that's the closest phonetic description I can make) and also "løve" means "lion", which is fucking awesome >:3

Here is my reasoning: every time you add an umlaut to your project name, god makes love to a lion. Think about that.

Note: Any linguistic assumptions were made without any prior knowledge of language or grammar. Feel free to point out my mistakes.

Re: Unnecessary use of the umlaut

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:22 am
by Robin
mike wrote:I have noticed a certain pattern in the creation of new LÖVE-related projects
You have noticed it as well? So it is not my imagination playing tricks on me?
mike wrote:ünnëcëssärÿ äẗẗäcḧmënẗ ẗö lëttërs ẅhërë ïẗ mäkës nö sënsë
Why is there an umlaut on ẗ but not on n̈ :P?

Also: is ø pronounced like "err" or more like the u in "huge"?

Re: Unnecessary use of the umlaut

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:07 am
by mike
Robin wrote:Why is there an umlaut on ẗ but not on n̈ :P?
My keyboard refuses.
Robin wrote:Also: is ø pronounced like "err" or more like the u in "huge"?
It sounds like the "u" in "turn".. I think... it makes sense in my head. Any comments from other nordic folk?

Re: Unnecessary use of the umlaut

Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:39 am
by Robin
mike wrote:My keyboard refuses.
My keybord refuses on both, but I copied the n̈ thing from Wikipedia.
mike wrote:It sounds like the "u" in "turn".. I think... it makes sense in my head. Any comments from other nordic folk?
ok, so it's a short "u"... damn internationally incompatible vowel pronunciation!

Re: Unnecessary use of the umlaut

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 12:33 am
by Xcmd
My project is named for Jägermeister...

Re: Unnecessary use of the umlaut

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 9:23 am
by Sardtok
*** WARNING ***
***EVIL PHONETICS AHEAD***

Actually, ö/ø can be either short or long, and in the International Phonetic Alphabet it is written ø.
It can be similar to the British English vowel in "bird" or a short version of the same vowel (note that the American English vowel in bird is a very rare vowel, and is not related to ø).
It is actually different from the English u in "fun", which is placed in the back of the mouth instead of the front (at least for the American vowel). This vowel is written ʌ.

A lot of Norwegians do pronounce English words with ʌ in them as if they were "close-mid front rounded" vowels (ø) instead of "open-mid back unrounded" vowels (ʌ).

If you want to make the sound, try rounding your lips like you do when you say "awe" except try saying the vowel e as in "bet" or "elevator".
The sound you make, should be pretty close to the Norwegian ø, but might sound a bit more French (English, as far as I know, doesn't have e, only ɛ. Rounding it produces the vowel in the French word "fleur". If you happen to speak French, notice the difference between the vowel in the article "le" and the vowel in "fleur". "Le" uses ø).

Re: Unnecessary use of the umlaut

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 12:15 pm
by Robin
So that would make ø equal in pronunciation to the Duch short "u". Fascinating.

Re: Unnecessary use of the umlaut

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 12:53 pm
by mike
Sardtok wrote: ***EVIL PHONETICS AHEAD***
* zig zig zig *
You never cease to amaze me.

Re: Unnecessary use of the umlaut

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 2:32 pm
by bartbes
Robin wrote:So that would make ø equal in pronunciation to the Duch short "u". Fascinating.
You didn't know that? You do know that we already know how to pronounce most international vowels, right? (because we already use a lot of them)

Re: Unnecessary use of the umlaut

Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 9:32 pm
by Robin
bartbes wrote:You didn't know that?
Well, no. I hadn't made the ø/u connection yet.