I wasn't sure about resurrecting an old thread elsewhere, so I thought I'd put a new one here instead

The BBC World Service theme, mentioned in Star-Crossed II, has changed starting today, to a whole new theme.

I, for one, think it sounds like a startup sound for Windows 98 that Microsoft decided not to go with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=dO2IeiP2T2A

Michael C. Fortner
"Maxim 37: There is no such thing as "overkill".
There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload".

LAST EDITED ON Sep-10-18 AT 06:54 PM (EDT)
 
>I, for one, think it sounds like a startup sound for Windows 98 that
>Microsoft decided not to go with.

At 30 seconds, it reads more like background music from a commercial to me.

(music starts; montage of a decent enough lobby, unremarkable guest room with cheap but serviceable kitchenette facilities, a pool you might or might not want to immerse yourself in, and so on)

MELLOW, CALMING VOICEOVER
As a business traveler of middling importance, you expect a lot out of a three-star medium-stay hotel. Here at the Generic Arms, we know what you need, and we're determined to meet all your expectations. Just barely. The Generic Arms: We're good enough.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Nigel. Nigel Buggerington-Smythe, Kt.

...!
Stoke Mandeville, Esq & The Victorian Ballsmiths
"Nobody Want Verdigris-Covered Balls!"

>Nigel. Nigel Buggerington-Smythe, Kt.

Forever explaining to Johnny Foreigner that it's pronounced "burtonsmith".

--G.
(in much the same way that Fanshaw is evidently spelled Featherstonehaugh.)
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>(in much the same way that Fanshaw is evidently spelled
>Featherstonehaugh.)

Or Leicester is "Lester". Much like other "Cester" places like Worcester, Gloucester and Cirencester.

...!
Stoke Mandeville, Esq & The Victorian Ballsmiths
"Nobody Want Verdigris-Covered Balls!"

LAST EDITED ON Sep-17-18 AT 01:27 PM (EDT)
 
>>(in much the same way that Fanshaw is evidently spelled
>>Featherstonehaugh.)
>
>Or Leicester is "Lester". Much like other "Cester" places like
>Worcester, Gloucester and Cirencester.

Mmm, love that wooster sauce. And, o'course, WPI as the canonical example here.

The whole of the British Isles suffers from idiosyncratic spelling in that fashion - over in Ireland, for instance, there's this whole other thing with names, like "Cuchulainn" (Pronounced 'coo cullen'); Conchobar mac Nessa (pronounced 'connor'); and any of dozens of people named Bodb (pronounced "bove") and Badb ("baev")

Less length, but the pronunciation just gets wild.

The Gaelic languages in general have more consistent spelling than English does; it's just that the letters don't all mean the same sounds that they do in English, which makes them look nonsensical to Anglophones. For instance, in Welsh, "dd" is pronounced /th/ (or more precisely /đ/) and "f" is pronounced /v/ (but "ff" is pronounced /f/). Once you get your head around it, it's no worse than Spanish.

Irish orthography is more complicated because it's got this broad-slender consonant thing going on and a bunch of contextually silent vowels. I think it's still not as complicated as English or even French, though.

>The Gaelic languages in general have more consistent spelling than
>English does; it's just that the letters don't all mean the same
>sounds that they do in English, which makes them look
>nonsensical to Anglophones. For instance, in Welsh, "dd" is
>pronounced /th/ (or more precisely /đ/) and "f" is pronounced /v/
>(but "ff" is pronounced /f/). Once you get your head around it, it's
>no worse than Spanish.
>
>Irish orthography is
>more complicated because it's got this broad-slender consonant thing
>going on and a bunch of contextually silent vowels. I think it's
>still not as complicated as English or even French, though.

Funny you should bring up Spanish; there's a -fascinating- thread going around on the tweeters about why 'Mexico' is written that way that centers around a specific pronunciation shift in Medieval Spanish happening at the same time as they encountered Nahuatl-speaking peoples in Central America

>Funny you should bring up Spanish; there's a -fascinating- thread
>going around on the tweeters about
>why 'Mexico' is written that way that centers around a specific pronunciation
>shift in Medieval Spanish happening at the same time as they
>encountered Nahuatl-speaking peoples in Central America

English-speakers often nominate Welsh for the real-life language that could most convincingly stand in for Martian in a movie, but I'll go with Nahuatl every time. Ye gods, what a language.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

LAST EDITED ON Sep-17-18 AT 09:54 PM (EDT)
 
>English-speakers often nominate Welsh for the real-life language that
>could most convincingly stand in for Martian in a movie, but I'll go
>with Nahuatl every time. Ye gods, what a language.
>
>--G.

It's that weird 'tl' ligature that's all through the thing that causes the most tongue destruction, I think - sometimes (q.v. huitlacoche) it's close enough to a syllable break you can sorta deal with it that way, but other times (q.v. Tenochtitlan or Tlaloc) it's a bit harder to handle - and sometimes (q.v. Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli) it's just -what-

Still, xocolatl is a wonderful thing and they pretty much originated it, so even though we horribly bastardize both the name and recipe to 'chocolate' I'm happy to recognize their essential contribution.

Edit: Damnit, one of these days I -will- remember that I can't use square brackets here.

>Edit: Damnit, one of these days I -will- remember that I can't use
>square brackets here.

You can, but you have to use ampersand entities for them. DCF renders (amper)l; as the left one, [ and (amper)r; as the right one, ].

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>English-speakers often nominate Welsh for the real-life language that
>could most convincingly stand in for Martian in a movie, but I'll go
>with Nahuatl every time. Ye gods, what a language.

Rimmer: "Open communication channels, Lister. Broadcast on all known frequencies and in all known languages, including Welsh."

>For instance, in Welsh, "dd" is
>pronounced /th/ (or more precisely /đ/) and "f" is pronounced /v/
>(but "ff" is pronounced /f/).

There is also the Welsh ll, which at least some of the time is pronounced like the tlh in tlh'Ingan.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>Mmm, love that wooster sauce. And, o'course, WPI as the canonical
>example here.

Yup! Of course, I'm a bit of a bastard and put a "trap" in there. Cirencester? Is pronounced "Cirencester". For some reason. It's the only such name that is pronounced as spelled.

...!
Stoke Mandeville, Esq & The Victorian Ballsmiths
"Nobody Want Verdigris-Covered Balls!"

>Forever explaining to Johnny Foreigner that it's pronounced
>"burtonsmith".

I just had to.

...!
Stoke Mandeville, Esq & The Victorian Ballsmiths
"Nobody Want Verdigris-Covered Balls!"