English has too many homophones

[now disabled]

I blame the Romans. Fewer N's - easier to type; that's how I pick my scapegoats.

Oh you'd like Gaelic as it only has 18 letters lol .....unfortunately N is there though the missing letters as such are J, K, Q, V, W, X, Y and Z ....that said lol we still make those sounds and usually these days the letters are used esp for modern words lol .... for example Whisky in my gaelic is Usige Beatha ...(literal translation the water of life lol .... however Usige can also mean rain lol and the G is pronounced as like a soft K and the th the T is silent lol )

 

[Steve]

Come on, @now disabled, you're interrupting the jokes with interesting information.

 

[now disabled]

Come on, @now disabled, you're interrupting the jokes with interesting information.

Sorry was just trying to keep you informed teach lol

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Oh you'd like Gaelic as it only has 18 letters lol .....unfortunately N is there though the missing letters as such are J, K, Q, V, W, X, Y and Z ....that said lol we still make those sounds and usually these days the letters are used esp for modern words lol .... for example Whisky in my gaelic is Usige Beatha ...(literal translation the water of life lol .... however Usige can also mean rain lol and the G is pronounced as like a soft K and the th the T is silent lol )

If I want confusing use of seemingly familiar letters, I'll get the Hobbit to provide some Russian, where the N's are backwards, and aren't really N's, at all. If you want an N, you really need an H.

Grumble...

 

[now disabled]

If I want confusing use of seemingly familiar letters, I'll get the Hobbit to provide some Russian, where the N's are backwards, and aren't really N's, at all. If you want an N, you really need an H.

Grumble...

Oh in gaelic if you want a V (which isn't there lol) use a bh or mh lol................but beware if they are not at the start of a word then they are silent ..well sometimes lol..........and plurals oh then the word can change completely ........well from three to 11 then it reverts to singular until 13 and from there on it plural again .............that is why it is so hard to teach my language ...well the powers that be have tried to standardise it .........now many native speakers when they hear a learner or a kid speaking they oft times have to revert to english, as it makes no sense lol

 

[JR 137]

“Names are not always what they seem. The common Welsh name BZJXXLLWCP is pronounced Jackson.”
- Mark Twain

Any truth to this?

 

[now disabled]

“Names are not always what they seem. The common Welsh name BZJXXLLWCP is pronounced Jackson.”
- Mark Twain

Any truth to this?

Dunno lol but could be .............. one thing I do like about my lang is when folks try to put two words together and think they are good to do that, when in reality as a person I came across found out .......He thought he had called his house Big Knife or long knife (a reference he was trying to make to the dirk (scots dagger) where as what he did do was call his house Dick head lol

 

[pdg]

“Names are not always what they seem. The common Welsh name BZJXXLLWCP is pronounced Jackson.”
- Mark Twain

Any truth to this?

It's extremely unlikely.

Names ending in "son" or "sen" aren't traditionally Welsh - along with those ending "dotter" or similar they are of Danish origin.

The name "Jackson" is literally "son of Jack" - and as "son" in Welsh is "mab" and names beginning with "J" are very uncommon the etymology just doesn't track.

 

[now disabled]

It's extremely unlikely.

Names ending in "son" or "sen" aren't traditionally Welsh - along with those ending "dotter" or similar they are of Danish origin.

The name "Jackson" is literally "son of Jack" - and as "son" in Welsh is "mab" and names beginning with "J" are very uncommon the etymology just doesn't track.

And son of in Scots Gaelic is Mac and daughter of is Nic

To get really into it for example there really is no Clan MacDonald in gaelic it is Clan Donald (Clan means family well Clann actually) and some of the Clan names can actually be translated lol for example Campbell mens twisted or crooked mouth and Cameron means twisted or crooked nose lol ..............The Clan structure is complicated and not all families are stand alone. The best known clan is probably MacDonald but even that is made up of different families not bearing the name MacDonald and also of the different septs of the Clan bearing MacDonald ....There is the High Chief but then there are the Clan Chiefs.

I actually get a laugh at tourist on this island when they ask one how do you pronounce the name of something and two what does it mean lol ................many do have meaning but some do not or they actually come from Norse originally.

In English it may be that "son" comes from the Danes but up here "son" may well just be the English spelling ie Donaldson ...the son has been added to the end as opposed to the start as it would be in trad gaelic lol (well modern trad gaelic lol as there is classical gaelic to )