you win this month's "most superfluous dierisis prize" [LWN.net]

you win this month's "most superfluous dierisis prize"

Posted Dec 18, 2006 0:45 UTC (Mon) by xoddam (subscriber, #2322)
In reply to: SFLC argues against software patents in the Supreme Court by Arker
Parent article: SFLC argues against software patents in the Supreme Court

> reäffirming

Very impressive!

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you win this month's "most superfluous dierisis prize"

Posted Dec 18, 2006 15:45 UTC (Mon) by cross (subscriber, #13601) [Link]

OK, so it's wildly off topic, but it does make words much more legible were two consecutive vowels are in fact separate syllables, as in the text you quoted. I've long felt that words like coöperate could benefit from such a spelling.

Ahem

Posted Dec 18, 2006 21:02 UTC (Mon) by Arker (guest, #14205) [Link]

The word is actually "diæresis" - note that the penultimate vowel is an 'e' not an 'i'. ;)

Ahem

Posted Dec 19, 2006 3:51 UTC (Tue) by xoddam (subscriber, #2322) [Link]

You're right, I should have known better than to take on a notorious pedant (you're nearly as bad as I am) without belt & braces.

I understand that it's usual to mark diæreses (I presume I have correctly pluralised the word) explicitly like that in Dutch?

Ahem

Posted Dec 19, 2006 9:20 UTC (Tue) by Arker (guest, #14205) [Link]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean. If by 'usual' you mean common, no, since the early typewriter makers decided it was too difficult to put the needed characters on the keyboard, their use has become sadly rare in English.

I don't speak Dutch, at best I can decipher simple signs occasionally and even that is hit or miss ;) so I can't really say much on that. I remember vaguely reading that the mark is used in Dutch in the same way in English. In English it should be used to mark a vowel cluster which is NOT to be interpreted in the most common way - as a dipthong. So for instance 'coop' is a single syllable, 'coöp' is two. I know it's also used that way in French, and I always figured that's where we got it from, but I don't really know.

Ahem

Posted Dec 19, 2006 10:42 UTC (Tue) by Seegras (guest, #20463) [Link]

Not at all. The first would sound something like "ko-op" the second "ko-erp". These designate umlauts, not different syllables.

"ü" would sound like something like "yew", and "ä" like the one in "ham".

Ahem

Posted Dec 19, 2006 19:15 UTC (Tue) by Arker (guest, #14205) [Link]

No, we are discussing the diæresis. You are talking about the umlaut. Although they look the same, they are very different things.