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zappadelta
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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 Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 8:20 pm Post subject: Today, my student asked me.. |
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| "Teacher, why is it double u and and double v?" I said "good question." |
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laogaiguk
Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: somewhere in Korea
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| Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 8:30 pm Post subject: Re: Today, my student asked me.. |
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| zappadelta wrote: |
| "Teacher, why is it double u and and double v?" I said "good question." |
Ya, the French got that one right. Though they say 60-11 for 71 and 80-15 for 95. |
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huffdaddy
Joined: 25 Nov 2005
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| Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 5:10 am Post subject: Re: Today, my student asked me.. |
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| zappadelta wrote: |
| "Teacher, why is it double u and and double v?" I said "good question." |
word for the day: "google"
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutenglish/doubleu
| Quote: |
Why is 'w' pronounced 'double u' rather than 'double v', and what is the origins of this letter?
English uses the Latin alphabet of the Romans. However, this had no letter suitable for representing the phoneme /w/ which was used in Old English, though phonetically the sound represented by /v/ was quite close. In the 7th century scribes wrote uu for /w/; later they used the runic symbols known as wynn. European scribes had continued to write uu, and this usage returned to England with the Norman Conquest in 1066. Early printers sometimes used vv for lack of a w in their type. The name double-u recalls the former identity of u and v, which is also evident in a number of cognate words (flour/flower, guard/ward, suede/Swede, etc.).(Oxford Companion to the English Language)
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zappadelta
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 1:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Ok, I will just tell my 5th grader that. Sweet |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 1:34 pm Post subject: Re: Today, my student asked me.. |
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| laogaiguk wrote: |
Ya, the French got that one right. Though they say 60-11 for 71 and 80-15 for 95. |
This is where Belgians excel. |
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