Propose an explanation: What's the "Q" on the Sony Reader?!

[alex_d]

hmm... apparently in english ae IS pronounced as "ee." But in LATIN (what i was taught in school), ae is "i."

So now all I have to do is travel backward in time or just visit the Vatican, and I can be the first guy with a Sony iReader. People will be as confused and subtly excited as when Sony released a white version of the aural canal penetrating headphones.

[bkilian]

Originally Posted by alex_d

hmm... apparently in english ae IS pronounced as "ee." But in LATIN (what i was taught in school), ae is "i."

So now all I have to do is travel backward in time or just visit the Vatican, and I can be the first guy with a Sony iReader. People will be as confused and subtly excited as when Sony released a white version of the aural canal penetrating headphones.

Sure, and by "i", you mean the short i sound, which is pronounced as a shortened "ee", right? As in "it", "illiad", "in". I at the start of a word is normally the "ee" sound (unless you're the US president, and you say "I-rak"), so "iReader" should be "eeReader" too. As well as "eePod" and "eePhone"

Since we have very few recordings of 2000 year ago latin, I doubt if anyone knows with certainty whether aether would have been pronounced ayther (long A), Ither (long I), or eether (long E).

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by bkilian

I at the start of a word is normally the "ee" sound....

Not necessarily: incident, implement, iteration, ill, ingenious, id (the personality component, not the abbreviation), identification, island, ice.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Okay, for the record, I still like "Alliterative Electronica"! But I concede, I can see (and hear) "Æ" as a stylized representation of the the "E" sound in "E-Reader". The Æ Reader. Yup. I like it.

[alex_d]

steve, where's the alliteration in alliterative electronica?

anyway, the "Æ Reader" brand was probably abandoned because no one knows how to pronounce the character.

If you just try to pronounce the two separate letters and say the "a" as, well, "the letter a" and then "e" as in, well, "ee" then you get the Fonzie Reader.

[NatCh]

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

"March of Cambreadth" is a song he's effectively worked into three of his Universes so far. The first books of each are: "There Will Be Dragons", "A Hymn Before Battle", and "Ghost".

I really, really like most of John Ringo's books, but I'm afraid that "hateful" is the only word I can use to describe the "Kildar" series, of which "Ghost" is the first. It's one thing to "demonise" aliens, and make light of killing them, but when you transfer that hatred to real people and refer to them by derogatory names, as "Kildar" does to people of the Islamic faith, I think you've crossed a line that is a lot better "un-crossed". I honestly can't imagine who these books would appeal to - I don't think I'd like to meet them, whoever they are!

[NatCh]

I haven't even tried the Kildar series, myself. I got exactly the vibe you're describing, Harry, just from the cover blurb, and just decided to steer clear of them.

[Andy Baird]

"But in LATIN (what i was taught in school), ae is 'i.' "

If you mean long "I" (as in the English word "eye"), I learned the same in my Latin studies. This "classic-Latin" pronunciation is different from the Italianate or "church Latin" more commonly used nowadays. "V" was pronounced like English "W", "C" was always hard like English "K," and so on. E.g., "Julius Caesar" was pronounced "YOO lee uhs KY sahr."

How do we know how Romans spoke two millennia ago? We can't know absolutely, but scholars can make pretty good guesses based on hints like rhymes in poetry and cross-referencing to other languages such as Greek. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_s..._pronunciation for more than you ever wanted to know about classical Latin pronunciation. ;-)

But most westerners pronounce that glyph as "EE" nowadays. And one of this, of course, explains why Sony prepended the AE diphthong to the name of their product, of course. It could be an attempt to evoke the long "E" sound, as in "e-Reader"...or perhaps it's just another instance of Japanglish (http://www.jun-gifts.com/others/japa...japanglish.htm).

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by alex_d

steve, where's the alliteration in alliterative electronica?

um...

(Hey, maybe that's why Sony isn't returning my e-mails...)

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Andy Baird

It could be an attempt to evoke the long "E" sound, as in "e-Reader"....

The only hitch I see in that logic is that they were very careful to clearly tell us that the device is the "Reader" to them, with the express stipulation that it was not the "e-Reader."

[alex_d]

harry, muslims are out to destroy western civilization with their faith, fertilizer bombs, box cutters, and bahklava. All our weaponry is useless against this foe and our last defense must come from our hearts. Novels which portray the correct understanding of their race serve our nation a profound service!

I'd send you to guantanamo if i could

[HarryT]

Alex,

I am deeply saddened by your total lack of understanding of what Islam is all about, but this really isn't the place to discuss such matters. Let's just agree to differ. I honestly do not think that books that appear to set out to actively encourage xenophobia and hatred of those with different beliefs are at all helpful in achieving understanding between different cultures. Having spent some time working in the Middle East I know a little about these cultures and, to my mind, the "they're all out to get us" picture that's portrayed in some of the more right-wing American media (and these books) is completely false and misleading.

Thankfully, in the UK at least, disliking a particular book is not a crime.

[TadW]

Please let's focus on e-books and leave religions out of it.

[NatCh]

I have an itch to comment on the religious discussion, but I think I'll just agree with TadW instead, as this really isn't the right venue.