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It's that time of year again where the good folks of Gavle, Sweden build a gigantic goat and the bad folks of Gavle try to burn it down. For five decades, Gavle has built a Gavlebocken, a large scale Yule Goat made out of straw. For decades Santa will be putting coal in their stocking for trying to destroy the gigantic goat. In its 52nd year, technology and goat protection methods have improved including fireproofing and a live web cam. Only 15 out of 51 goats built were not destroyed in years past. Let's hope this one survives.
[The linked story has incorrect spelling of the name of the town in Sweden and goat — it should be Gävle and Gävlebocken, respectively. --martyb]
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Gävle, Sweden Gears Up to Defend their Goat
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, it is against the law to open a soda bottle without
the supervision of a licensed engineer.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday December 26 2018, @11:37PM (6 children)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prick
Particularly sense 3, "A dot or other diacritical mark used in writing; a point."
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Thursday December 27 2018, @12:59AM (1 child)
Huh, whadya know. Learned something new, cheers! I do note that's it's considered obsolete these days, and as far as I'm aware in both British and Australian English they're referred to simply as "dots".
(Score: 2) by Arik on Friday December 28 2018, @03:12AM
Best I can tell, it should be translated 'non-bullshit.'
Only they don't even give me the courtesy of two pricks. And I really miss that. I can live with being archaïc but I will never ever be archaic. You can't even pronounce that with a straight face.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by martyb on Friday December 28 2018, @02:07AM (3 children)
I'd always heard them referred to either as a diaeresis [wikipedia.org] or as an umlaut.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Friday December 28 2018, @03:05AM (2 children)
'Diæresis' is one of my favorite words. Just as /nephritis/ is neo-latin for 'inflamed kidneys', /diæresis/ is neo-greek for 'the two pricks.'
'Umlaut' is a different sort of a beast. The primary meaning of it is the sound shift, the compression of the two syllables ae or oe to a single umlaut vowel. In many languages, the umlaut is habitually referenced with the diæresis, and so they have become in common usage synonymous.
But in a language or in a mind that does not habitually equate the two, they might be seen as different things - one a matter of orthography, the other a matter of pronunciation.
In English, the diæresis was traditionally used for a purpose quite distinct from that of /umlaut/. It was used, in fact is still used, last I checked, per a minority of style guides at least, to indicate the exact *opposite* of an umlaut; that is to indicate when two vowels that might otherwise be expected to umlaut are still pronounced as two distinct syllables.
For example, naïve. Without the diæresis this should rhyme with knife, the pricks are used to remind us that this word still has two syllables.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Friday December 28 2018, @03:17AM (1 child)
Not exclusively those two combinations of syllables. U+E=Y is another. But the fundamental pattern, which is a pattern of pronunciation, is implied. Orthography comes only as a secondary level - if the umlaut is normally represented with the pricks in your language you associate them (and this is mostly the case, even in danish for example the o umlaut is not written that way but the a is so it still makes somewhat sense.)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by martyb on Sunday December 30 2018, @02:32PM
Thank-you for that! Had seen it used in so many places, but there was something about your explanation that helped make it clear for me. In essence, the 'pricks' are the syntax, and the semantics depend on context and serve to indicate whether the adjacent vowels should be pronounced as one unit or separately!
It's comments like this that make my time spent on the site worthwhile! Thanks again!
Wit is intellect, dancing.