Monday, November 28, 2011

Twitter

I've created a Tvitterrrrrr account, as my Icelandic friends would call it, delightfully trilling the 'r' and not caring that they haven't a clue how to pronounce the 'w' properly. On Twitter I can be found under @thecodwars.

The surprisingly poor distinction between 'w' and 'v' amongst the Icelanders is a source of much wasted intellectual energy for me. How can one nation get it so wrong? How can they care so little about sounding silly?

The answer lies possibly in the difference in naming: whereas in English the letter bears the name 'double-u', in Icelandic it's called 'tvöfaldvaff', or 'double-v'.

I am much vexed about this issue. I hope to remember to write more about it later.

1 comment:

  1. Finally some recognition over the Icelander's inability to see a distinct difference between 'w' and 'v'. It's always a constant source of amusement/confusion for me as my friend ask if I'm watching 'teewee' or tell me of how he drove to the 'willage'. But also as a linguistics student I've found it baffling as the two sounds do not share the same place of articulation! But I think you may have just found the answer for me.

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