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this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2024
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Nighttime Musings - Mickey McPußson
How does one say ß?
It's just pronounced like "ss' double S sound.
Eg. Groß - pronounced "grohss" - meaning: large/big
Or Fußball - "fooss-ball"
It’s called an Eszett if you want to look it up. Also of possible interest: Eth, Aesc, Wynn, and Thorn. Oh, and long S.
We need more of these. We need one for "ation" and 'ing'. Maybe one for 'con'. Back when I learned shorthand, the 'con' symbol was seriously the most useful with 'ation' the next runner up. The zeugma just doesn't work nowadays for 'ng'. No I don't know the shorthand for 'dinosaur'.
Technically a different thing. ‘Defunct’ single letter forms rather than abbreviation marks. Those are a whole bucket of mackerel that does my head in any time I need to attempt reading them. Never tried shorthand 🦕
TIL the word zeugma, thank you 👌
Comes in very handy for scrabble. It's the z in Menzies (which is pronounced 'mingis') and represents the ng sound. Written it's a z with a long tail like a 'g'. Also features in the surname Dalziel (pronounced 'dee ell' with the ng bit being silent).
Long ago I came to the conclusion that the Scots and the Irish can't spell. So they make up weird spellings to piss off the English. Which strategy has proven to be very successful. Not that the English can't do weird spellings too, they can, but the Scots are a whole nother ballgame.
I understand it all boils down to a basically celtic pronunciation, but written down by Norman French speakers using a very different alphabet which was not designed for the purpose.