1069: Alphabet
| Alphabet |
 Title text: Do I get to remove letters entirely? Or just rearrange them? Because the 'k/c' situation is ridiculous. Look, we can make out whenever. This is *immortality*! |
Explanation
This comic is mainly a joke on the traditional pick-up line that goes: "Baby, if I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put 'U' and 'I' together", i.e. "you and I", or "the letter U and the letter I".
However, in typical xkcd fashion, rather than continuing with that tired pickup line, Cueball jumps at his hypothetical chance to rearrange the alphabet and fix the English orthography. An orthography is a standardized system for using a particular writing system (script) to write a particular language, including rules of spelling. The English orthography happens to be one of the deepest (that is, most irregular) ones around, since almost every sound can be spelled in several ways, and most spellings and all letters can be pronounced in more than one way, and often in many different ways.
So faced with this opportunity, the hooking up could wait. Restructuring the alphabet and creating a sensibly regular English spelling is the chance of a lifetime, and would make history, making Cueball immortal in the sense of living on forever in memory as the alphabet-fixer.
"The 'k/c' situation" is about the use of the letter 'c'. It doesn't have a unique sound, and most often make a 'k'-sound or an 's'-sound. Combined with an 'h' it usually makes the 'ch'-sound in chair, but also they often sound like 'k' (character), and in not too few cases they even make the 'sh'-sound.[1]. So a reasonable change Cueball might make is to replace 'c' by 'k' or 's', and keep 'c' only followed by 'h' (or even giving 'c' the current sound of 'ch' as in chair).
Orthography was again the subject in 1562: I in Team.
Transcript
- [Cueball walks up to a girl sitting at a bar.]
- Cueball: Baby, if I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd forget about you in a heartbeat. I'm not gonna waste my one chance to help the mess that is English orthography.
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That would probably work anyways. I hear women love it when you play hard to get like that. Davidy22[talk] 13:38, 8 January 2013 (UTC)
Is it not also relevant that the "ea" in heart and beat are pronounced differently, an example of the irregularity of English orthography. 91.89.211.18 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
- In "rearrange" (used in the comic) the letters "ea" comprise two syllables, and the schwa is more stressed than in "realize", which is barely audible when pronounced at all (although it might depend on regional accents).
108.162.237.89 02:26, 2 December 2016 (UTC)
- ...and also in learn, bread, break, beard, bear, create, reality, realize, sergeant. So, 11 different pronunciations. Did I miss any? ––St.nerol (talk) 22:11, 28 April 2013 (UTC)
- In what way are the pairs beat/beard and learn/bread pronounced differently? 161.49.249.254 21:18, 5 August 2013 (UTC)
/hɑɹt/ /biːt/ /lɝn/ /bɹɛd/ /bɹeɪk/ /bɪɹd/ /bɛɚ/ /kɹiːˈeɪt/ /riˈæləti/ I couldn't find realize and sergeant. You can see it isn't just the vowels that are different. Tharkon (talk) 01:34, 26 July 2014 (UTC)
- beat/beard /biːt/ vs /bɪɹd/ or /bɪəd/
- learn/bread /lɜɹn/ vs /bɹɛd/. The difference between learn and bread is similar to the difference between stir /stɜɹ/ and stare /stɛɹ/, which are not homophones.
- realize /ˈɹiːəlaɪz/
- sergeant /ˈsɑːɹdʒənt/
Xhfz (talk) 13:34, 10 August 2015 (UTC)
It's a nice touch that Cueball's second sentence entirely omits the vowel 'u' thus forgetting "about 'U' in a heartbeat"162.158.202.82 14:05, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
- almost def a coincidence but still cool. also see jan misali's spelling reform videos. 172.70.35.70 14:07, 16 September 2021 (UTC)Bumpf
Let's fiks Eenglic speling!
Let's start a thread here, adding more logical rules for English spelling. Please add more rules! Each rule must be written following all prior rules.
Replace all uses of "c", except in "ch", with "s" or "k". "City" and "copy" are now "sity" and "kopy". Because "ch" is actually "tsh" and the letter "c" is otherwise unused, replace "sh" with "c". "Ship" and "church" are now "cip" and "tcurtc". 172.70.130.105 14:56, 20 May 2022 (UTC)
- "Copy"->"kopy" and "call"->"kall", I presume you mean. And you missed out on vowels/vowel-likes ("siti" and "kopi", definitely, and maybe "kol" unless you want to go for "kawl" or even repurpose 'y' for "kyl" as even the likes of "yacht" might be better rewritten as "uot"), if we can pursuade people to assume a common accent. ("buoy" -> "boi" or "bui" or...? That'll be an argument!)
- Can I keep the 'ch' in "loch", though? Hint: it aint either "lok" or "loc", even if we now have the likes of a "kiroprakter" or "ciropodist". 141.101.98.135 15:27, 20 May 2022 (UTC)
- Thanks for pointing out the copy/kall issue! That was the only rule I added; feel free to add more! 172.70.126.87 15:33, 20 May 2022 (UTC)
- Can yooe reed this mesuj? It iz riten funeticly. Ie em in thu Yuenietd Staets, soe sum uv the spelingz miet not seem funetic if yooe or frum unuthr cuntry. 172.70.178.95 21:09, 20 May 2022 (UTC)
- Thanks for pointing out the copy/kall issue! That was the only rule I added; feel free to add more! 172.70.126.87 15:33, 20 May 2022 (UTC)
The inventor of the QWERTY keyboard managed to "rearrange the alphabet and put U and I together". --ColorfulGalaxy (talk) 02:38, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
- I is next to U on a QWERTY keyboard. WE are neighbors. WindOctahedron (talk) 21:09, 20 May 2022 (UTC)
