Persistent, Niggling Questions - Page 5 - The Five-Minute Forums

PointyHairedJedi · #81 10-10-2007, 02:35 PM

You're implying that you're not mad already? That's a hairy lie if I ever saw one!

Katy Jane · #82 10-11-2007, 12:29 AM

I have a question, why is there a letter that is compleatly dependent on another letter? I speak here of Qu.... why can't the letter Q just automaticly mean Qu? So that Queen would be spelled Qeen?

Nate the Great · #83 10-11-2007, 02:29 AM

You got me. But there are words that start with Q that don't have a u after it. Qat comes to mind. (Hey, I'm a Scrabbleholic, what can I say?)

Chancellor Valium · #84 10-11-2007, 01:14 PM

"Saqqara", "Qadesh", "Qetesh" (important not to qonfuse), "qhytsonthyd" (archaic spelling of "Whistuntide", IIRC).

In short, it is because "Q" is a redundant letter in English, representing a letter described in Egyptology as "k-with-a-dot".

mudshark · #85 10-11-2007, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chancellor Valium

... "qhytsonthyd" (archaic spelling of "Whi[ts]untide", IIRC).

Hmm, thot it were hwta sunnandæg, but then, there's no 'Q' in thet'un, so I suppose it wouldn't count.

As mentioned above, Q does occur independently in languages other than English, mostly non-Indo-European ones. The Q-U combination seems to have been imported from Latin via Old French, circa the Norman Invasion in 1066, and has stuck around more out of inertia than anything else.

English is like that -- has lots of relics, artifacts and plain old souvenirs lying around and cluttering things up for no good reason other than that people are used to it being that way and resist changing.

Chancellor Valium · #86 10-11-2007, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mudshark

Hmm, thot it were hwta sunnandæg, but then, there's no 'Q' in thet'un, so I suppose it wouldn't count.

*eyebrow*

Intriguing.

I read that thing about qhythsonthyd on wiktionary, so it's probably wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mudshark

As mentioned above, Q does occur independently in languages other than English, mostly non-Indo-European ones. The Q-U combination seems to have been imported from Latin via Old French, circa the Norman Invasion in 1066, and has stuck around more out of inertia than anything else.

English is like that -- has lots of relics, artifacts and plain old souvenirs lying around and cluttering things up for no good reason other than that people are used to it being that way and resist changing.

Like "artic"/"arctic"....

mudshark · #87 10-11-2007, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chancellor Valium

I read that thing about qhythsonthyd on wiktionary, so it's probably wrong.

Well, "qhythsonthyd" did look to me like it could have been an Old English word, or perhaps Brythonic, but I tried Googling it before making my previous post and didn't turn anything up. I tried Wiktionary just now, under both that spelling and "Whitsuntide", but couldn't find an entry containing it.

I'm not terribly familiar with Wiktionary, though, so I may simply be doing something wrong. If you run across it again, I'd be interested in having a look.

Chancellor Valium · #88 10-11-2007, 04:56 PM

So would I

Katy Jane · #89 10-11-2007, 09:50 PM

I guess i should have said that i figured there was other languages were Q could be used independantly, and I just wondering why it was that why in the english language.

Nate the Great · #90 10-11-2007, 11:52 PM

Will there ever be a fiver convention?

mudshark · #91 10-12-2007, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katy Jane

I guess i should have said that i figured there was other languages were Q could be used independantly, and I just wondering why it was that why in the english language.

Just blame William the Conqueror; that should work as well as anything.

Bloody Vikings!

Nate the Great · #92 10-12-2007, 09:31 PM

Which format will be 100% DEAD first, audiotape or videotape?

Will they ever work out the rights issues and release the 60's Batman show on DVD?

Would other shows sell better if they released complete series sets a la Friends? Frasier and Home Improvement come to mind.

Nate the Great · #93 10-13-2007, 03:30 AM

Puh-huh?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerspace

The address is for hammerspace, but the actual title is Magic Satchel. As a longtime fan of animation, I'm here to tell you that hammerspace is the more prevalent and accurate term. Magic Satchel implies a bag that has no bottom. Hammerspace can be located anywhere: behind a tree, inside a magician's hat, in a cartoon character's back pocket, etc.

Yeah, yeah, I'm obsessive. You already knew that.

mudshark · #94 10-13-2007, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

Puh-huh?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerspace

The address is for hammerspace, but the actual title is Magic Satchel. As a longtime fan of animation, I'm here to tell you that hammerspace is the more prevalent and accurate term. Magic Satchel implies a bag that has no bottom. Hammerspace can be located anywhere: behind a tree, inside a magician's hat, in a cartoon character's back pocket, etc.

Yeah, yeah, I'm obsessive. You already knew that.

This has been discussed here before. Note all of the "Hammer" gags from the ENT fivers. See also: "IJD... hammer!"

Nate the Great · #95 10-13-2007, 05:53 PM

The Magic Satchel VS. Hammerspace thing has been discussed? I never noticed that.

Then again, I'm seeing that on Wikipedia more and more often: The "official" article name i.e. the one in the URL doesn't match the "common" article name that's in the bold letters. However, those instances don't involve terms that come from completely different realms or scales. "Magic satchel" and "hammerspace" are NOT interchangable, a magic satchel is a VERY small subset of hammerspace.

As a means of lightening the mood, let me relate a humorous story from the Ella Enchanted commentary. The script originally said "Where's my satchel?" but the director's commentary revealed that "nobody" knew what that word was, so they had to replace it with "purse." Given that the movie is chock full of more obscure medievalisms (foyer and origami come to mind), plus Anne Hathaway's voice shouting "where's my satchel" is much funnier than "where's my purse," I'm still tickled at the inconsistency.

Nate the Great · #96 10-15-2007, 01:08 AM

Does anyone actually have and enjoy the Gameboy Micro? Not just in this forum, but everywhere. I remember being very aggravated about the whole idea.

Zeke · #97 10-17-2007, 01:44 AM

My Micro has been my best friend for about two years now. I bought it just for the cool tech factor -- it's barely bigger than the cartridges it plays.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chancellor Valium

Zeke miss a punning opportunity like that? I'm not that easy to dupe.

Valium is right. I've been meaning to mention this to you, Nate -- read my original post again.

Nate the Great · #98 10-17-2007, 01:18 PM

Yeah, that was nice of you to blackball ID for me, but I distinctly recall that you later acquiesed to the majority of the voters. After all, that's what the entire point of the poll was, right?

Zeke · #99 10-17-2007, 01:36 PM

You know that's not what I was pointing out. (But to answer your question, I didn't "blackball" ID permanently, I said we should keep looking. Ultimately I decided it was the best choice -- I did warn you that might happen.)

PointyHairedJedi · #**100** 10-17-2007, 01:51 PM

Democracy is for jerks. So, unfortunately, is every other system of government. Someone hurry up and build Colossus already!