'W' Considered Harmful

BoppreH 15 years ago |

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.

jbooth 15 years ago |

Nobody else says "dub dub dub"?

jonkelly 15 years ago | |

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."

aasarava 15 years ago | |

I just ignore it and use the TLD when I have to relay a URL verbally. Most Web servers (at least for sites that I build or refer others to) are configured to serve pages without the www in the URL.

skermes 15 years ago | |

In my more expansive moments I've even used 'trip dub' to cut it down to even fewer syllables than letters.

lukifer 15 years ago | |

I've always Stephen Fry's solution: "wuh wuh wuh", or simply say the whole thing, "world wide web". 3 syllables either way.

Adrock 15 years ago | |

I'm going to start saying "World Wide Web"

JonnieCache 15 years ago | |

I've been enjoying a meme I've spotted on pirate radio of all places: "all the doubleyous"

sharkey 15 years ago | |

I prefer wub wub wub. Actually, I prefer removing it from URLs :-)

regularfry 15 years ago | |

"Wubble-you."

gojomo 15 years ago | |

'Sextuple-Yu'.

Just kidding... I usually say 'dub dub dub', except to very novice audiences.

sp332 15 years ago |

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

What about H?

baddox 15 years ago | |

G isn't its most common sound. Neither is Q. U's pronunciation doesn't make much sense, except that its long vowel sound is the same as the letter's. Also, I'm proud to be an American because we pronounce Z "zee" instead of "zed," which makes no sense whatsoever.

kbatten 15 years ago | |

In that case, W pronounced "double ewe" does include the sound it makes.

SkyMarshal 15 years ago | |

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

duke_sam 15 years ago | | |

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.

a1k0n 15 years ago | | |

In some accents it's pronounced "haitch".

regularfry 15 years ago | |

I do know people who pronounce it "haitch."

jjcm 15 years ago |

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

wglb 15 years ago |

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.

elwin 15 years ago |

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.

wladimir 15 years ago | |

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

jacques_chester 15 years ago |

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.

artmageddon 15 years ago | |

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

jacques_chester 15 years ago | | |

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

Gertm 15 years ago | | |

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)

gojomo 15 years ago |

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.

rdouble 15 years ago | |

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

phlux 15 years ago |

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