Thread Killer Champions: Franzbear & Moonbear

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In summary, Franzbear is the most prolific thread killer in the forum. He has killed at least 12 threads and is likely responsible for 21 more. His ability to kill threads is not a direct outcome of the evidence (number of last posts). You have to at least factor in the total number of posts by each person (posts in GD) to get a more accurate representation of the killer instinct. Franz and Moonie have so many posts here, they are more likely to be the winning killers. You have to divide the number of kills by the total number of posts during the same period to get a corrected distribution.
  • #5,041
sa-'vänt, wänt, vänt, tänt, dänt, flänt, gänt, hänt, jänt,

Merriam-Webster says they rhyme. Oh no! Society will collapse! We won't be able to communicate with each other. Babelbabelbabel
 
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  • #5,042
Well, it seems my big old honking Websters that I just had to drag out says want rhymes with savant rhymes with father. They're all designated as a with an umlaut.
 
  • #5,043
Probably Webster's dictionary uses as general pronunciation as possible, to encompass regional variation. So their a-umlaut covers a whole range of vowel sounds. It doesn't actually mean they rhyme; it just means some freaks somewhere think they rhyme.
 
  • #5,044
Huckleberry said:
sa-'vänt, wänt, vänt, tänt, dänt, flänt, gänt, hänt, jänt,

Merriam-Webster says they rhyme. Oh no! Society will collapse! We won't be able to communicate with each other. Babelbabelbabel

Darn, you beat me to it! Both father and want are used as examples of the correct pronunciation of the "a" with umlaut in the pronunciation key of my dictionary. Websters doesn't mention the variant of aunt we're discussing of "a with umlaut", only the a that rhymes with fast, but also lists that as distinct from ant, which is the a in at. :bugeye: No wonder I can't understand anybody around here, even the dictionaries can't agree on accents! :smile:
 
  • #5,045
BicycleTree said:
Probably Webster's dictionary uses as general pronunciation as possible, to encompass regional variation. So their a-umlaut covers a whole range of vowel sounds. It doesn't actually mean they rhyme; it just means some freaks somewhere think they rhyme.
You're going to trust dictionary.com over Merriam-Webster? No, their a with an umlaut is very specific and they have the full range of symbols dictionary.com has.

Edit: Okay, time to seek the true authority. Who has the OED around?
 
  • #5,046
I looked in my Webster's, and it lists more than one way to pronounce the two. It's just trying to have the most general use possible.

The a-umlaut, in webster's, is the same as the a in father or car. I don't think there's any dispute over how to pronounce "car" (no I don't mean "cah").
 
  • #5,047
Dictionary.com's pronunciations are from the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. That's at least as authoritative as Webster's.
 
  • #5,048
The OED would probably list British pronunciation, which is generally incorrect.
 
  • #5,049
car sounds like cawr!
 
  • #5,050
yomamma said:
car sounds like cawr!
No it doesn't.
 
  • #5,051
how does it sound then. :rolleyes:
 
  • #5,052
BicycleTree said:
I looked in my Webster's, and it lists more than one way to pronounce the two. It's just trying to have the most general use possible.

The a-umlaut, in webster's, is the same as the a in father or car. I don't think there's any dispute over how to pronounce "car" (no I don't mean "cah").

No dispute at all...they are pronounced the same, hence both having the same a-umlaut. I pronounce the a the same in car whether I say the r or not.

(Yes, I'm actually finding all these different pronunciations interesting. I would have expected certain sounds to be more internally consistent within accents, you know, expecting we'd all think car and father have the same "a" sound even if we don't say that "a" the same way. I've never noticed this in people's accents before.)
 
  • #5,053
:cry: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
 
  • #5,054
Huckleberry said:
:cry: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

awwwwwwww. :smile:
 
  • #5,055
A little snippet from wikipedia on the creation of the American Heritage Dictionary:

wikipedia said:
James Parton, the owner of the history magazine American Heritage, was appalled by the "permissiveness" of Webster's Third, published in 1961, and tried to buy the G. and C. Merriam Company so he could undo the changes. When that failed, he contracted with Houghton to publish a new dictionary. The AHD was edited by William Morris and relied on a usage panel of 105 writers, speakers, and eminent persons for usage notes.

So basically, Webster's carries bastardized American English. Use it at your own risk. True Americans use the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.
 
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  • #5,056
BicycleTree said:
A little snippet from wikipedia on the creation of the American Heritage Dictionary:



So basically, Webster's carries bastardized American English. Use it at your own risk. True Americans use the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.

Or so says James Parton so he could sell dictionaries in a market dominated by Websters.
 
  • #5,057
:mad: And I thought you were a true American! :mad:

Remember: Moral Fiber begins with Patriotic Elocution.
 
  • #5,058
Moonbear said:
Edit: Okay, time to seek the true authority. Who has the OED around?
I was a pro writer, remember? Of course I use the OED. It uses the symbol a: which, as I said, is just like in ant or art.:-p

BicycleTree said:
The OED would probably list British pronunciation, which is generally incorrect.
English is British, you twit. Why do you think it's called 'English'?
 
  • #5,059
Pick the one you like. :biggrin:
Wallraff counts seven American dictionaries that have "some claim to be taken seriously these days": American Heritage, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate, Microsoft Encarta, New Oxford American, Random House Webster's, Webster's New World and Webster's Third New International.

But none of them can be considered definitive, because none of them tells us everything we wish it would. The same is true of usage manuals and stylebooks. The material in them is there because people don't agree. It's likely that even the simplest, clearest rules they give are contradicted in other reputable books.
http://www.copydesk.org/2004conference/reference.htm
 
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  • #5,060
Some prefer not to ---> Deny <--- our American Heritage.
 
  • #5,061
Ok, too much dictionary banter for me.
Goodnight y'all. :zzz:
 
  • #5,062
BicycleTree said:
Some prefer not to ---> Deny <--- our American Heritage.
Wait, how did we agree to spell it? Ah, this will do:
Pbbbbbpppptptpptptptppttbbbppbpbpbptttttt! :-p

Here's an interesting site from a linguistics course that explains some of our conundrum.
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Fall_2003/ling001/English.html
 
  • #5,063
I WANT YOU...
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TO USE THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE...
 
  • #5,064
BicycleTree said:
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE...
That's an oxymoron.
 
  • #5,065
Danger said:
That's an oxymoron.
Aren't you glad you're Canadian? :smile:
 
  • #5,066
Moonbear said:
Aren't you glad you're Canadian? :smile:
Moreso every day! We've got to get Nogger and Vickie in on this, for their input on the bastardization of their language.
 
  • #5,067
Moonbear said:
Don't get out much, do you? I'm going to have to bet that someone over in Britain gets to lay claim to the proper pronunciation of the English language over any of us yanks.

I'll take that responsibility. I'm right, you're all wrong, and I haven't even said anything yet.

Danger said:
Moreso every day! We've got to get Nogger and Vickie in on this, for their input on the bastardization of their language.

Looks like I arrived just in time then...


Anyway, the OED will tell you the Received Pronunciation (RP) for any word you wish to use. Most Brits do not speak RP, even the Queen doesn't. It should also be noted that RP is in no way more valid than any other accent (Yorkshire, Estuary, Brummie etc), although some of the dialect that accompanies these accents is often not classed as 'proper English', and many words that form a part of these dialects do not appear in any dictionary.

The problem is, both Nogger and Vickie are Yorkshiremen (of kinds), so if we typed in our own accents phonetically, you wouldn't have a clue what we were on about.

Good job I studied regional linguistics at English Langauge A level.
 
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  • #5,068
Good grief that's devious. :devil: 60 posts debating the pronunciation of "Aunt!" You may have actually found a way to kill poor Franzbear! :zzz:

Franzbear, are you dead, or just sleeping? Franzbear, speak to me! Okay, let me just hook these jumper cables up to you...


<hooks some jumper cables to Franzbear (Don't ask where they're hooked. JUst know that they will get his attention when the power is applied :smile:).>


Now you may feel a little jolt...


<throws the switch to a 750 KVA Generator.>

ZZZZAAPPPPPP​

Franzbear, are you back with us?

Good, oh don't worry about that smell. That's just burning thread. :biggrin:
 
  • #5,069
Artman said:
Good grief that's devious. :devil: 60 posts debating the pronunciation of "Aunt!" You may have actually found a way to kill poor Franzbear! :zzz:
:smile: I think he was just sleeping. We bored Huck so badly, he fell asleep on us too. So close, so close. :devil:

Good, oh don't worry about that smell. That's just burning thread. :biggrin:
:rolleyes: Artman, that wasn't franzbear, that was the fuse to that giant bomb over there!
RUN! (Oh, not you franzbear, just sit tight, we'll be right back.)

KABLAAAAAAM!​

*peeks out from under the coffee table* You really should get some of Danger's slower fuses. We barely got away in time on that one.
 
  • #5,070
Moonbear said:
:smile: I think he was just sleeping. We bored Huck so badly, he fell asleep on us too. So close, so close. :devil:


:rolleyes: Artman, that wasn't franzbear, that was the fuse to that giant bomb over there!
RUN! (Oh, not you franzbear, just sit tight, we'll be right back.)

KABLAAAAAAM!​

*peeks out from under the coffee table* You really should get some of Danger's slower fuses. We barely got away in time on that one.
Now I smell thread burning. :smile: Poor Franzbear. :-p
 
  • #5,071
Artman said:
Now I smell thread burning. :smile: Poor Franzbear. :-p
Yeah, the kid is looking a bit crispy. :devil:
 
  • #5,072
Finally, back to what we should be doing here, killing little franzbear.

I had a strange dream last night. Artman finally revealed his devious plot to kill franzbear. He was going to make heavy posts and hang them on franzbears shower curtain until it fell off the hangers.

Well, it made much more sense in the dream. I didn't stick around to see how it would end. I saw Artman and a shower curtain and I was out of there!
 
  • #5,073
Huckleberry said:
Finally, back to what we should be doing here, killing little franzbear.
As it should be.

Huckleberry said:
I had a strange dream last night. Artman finally revealed his devious plot to kill franzbear. He was going to make heavy posts and hang them on franzbears shower curtain until it fell off the hangers.

Well, it made much more sense in the dream. I didn't stick around to see how it would end. I saw Artman and a shower curtain and I was out of there!
Ooooh. Gives me shivers just to...Hey, was I naked in your dream? Again.
 
  • #5,074
Still working out the sinister details of my devious plot.


Muuuuhhhhaaaa! and all like that there.
 
  • #5,075
Without revealing too much (...as in Huckleberry's shower dreams about me... ) my plot does involve, 250 electric eels, 1000 gallons of used motor oil, 37 quarts of whipped cream, and a pair of Danger's dirty socks.

Of course, that's all I can tell you for now. :devil:
 
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