• funkless_eck
        6·
        10 months ago

        as a phoneme, it’s a bilabial approximant - meaning the lips form the sound by moving close but not touching and then parting again

        compare to the palatal approixmant /y/ formed by the root of the tongue performing a similar action with the soft palate.

      • Turun@feddit.de
        53·
        10 months ago

        Like … Have you ever read a word with w in it?

        I kinda know what you are getting at - if you dictate a word by pronouncing each letter separately you need to add stuff to each one to make it stand out - but Jesus Christ, what a question.

        Hodoubleu is the doublueather today? Only a fedoubleu oubleuhite clouds in a clear blue sky.

        Thanks for making me laugh!

        Edit: in German it is pronounced “we”, with the e like in ketchup.

        • tan00k@lemmy.world
          5·
          10 months ago

          I vote we change it in English to be pronounced like in German. It always bugged me that it’s the only multisyllabic letter name. Along the same lines, we should rename seven to sev.

            • Turun@feddit.de
              2·
              9 months ago

              I sometimes like reading or listening to stories of people scamming scammers. He used this exact thing to really confuse the scammer.

              “Please type in double u double double u…”
              “Alright, I typed in double u double u double… It says page not found” (i.e. uuuuuu)

          • Turun@feddit.de
            1·
            9 months ago

            In German y is not pronounced as “why”, but instead as “Ypsilon”. You win some you lose some I guess.

            More infuriating is “e” - it’s pronounced as “I” ffs! But when in a word only if it’s the first letter or something. Otherwise it’s pronounced as “e” as it rightfully should be!