Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

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The "i" in Linux and Linus have different pronunciations even when they shouldn't. (leminal.space)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I'm Italian and I pronounce both "i"s in the same way. Why is English so strange?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Blame the French.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Hey, we pronounce both the same, too. Sorry English, that's on you and you alone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Uh huh

And how would you pronounce it compared to a German?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

The I as in "free", but shorter (not drawn out) and the u as in "urban", maybe? It's hard to find English words where they make the french U sound, but it's pronounced the same pretty much all the time.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

In this particular instance, the Great Vowel Shift is to blame. What caused that is up for debate.

In general, English is so strange because it's a mongrel language, incorporating words from a variety of other different languages.