4 ms·

Am I the only one annoyed by the spelling of the site? I can't figure out if it is a misspelled "subtle" or Silicon Valley Beetle or something... How is it pr

• jack-r-abbit 13y ago
  It doesn't annoy me any more than the trend to remove a random vowel from the name. I believe that "v" is meant to act like a fancy "u". I've seen this in other places.
• lost_name 13y ago
  Several hundred years ago, V was both a consonant and a vowel. Over time it evolved into V being a consonant, U being the vowel, and the sound that was 'VV' became W, which is why it's pronounced 'Double U' but looks like two V's. That might not be entirely right, but I believe I'm close. You'd have to look up the evolution of the latin alphabet I suppose. Edit: So to answer your question, I believe it's pronounced 'subtle' :)
  • BuffaloBagel 13y ago
    In Danish 'w' is called double-v.
    • rodgerd 13y ago
      French as well. Suspect English is an outlier here...
    • felideon 13y ago
      In spanish, you can say it both ways and usually depends on region.
• nostromo 13y ago
  In Latin they wrote V for what we today would pronounce U. During the American Renaissance, architects used the old latin alphabet, which had no U. That's why you see things like PVBLIC LIBRARY in old cities. Eg: http://i.imgur.com/p4RS9My.jpg http://i.imgur.com/p4RS9My.jpg So, "Svbtle" is "Subtle" and "Bvlgari" is "Bulgari" etc. U and V have a long complicated history. If you'd like to learn more: http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/scripts/letters/historyuv.htm http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/scripts/letters/historyuv....
  • heywire 13y ago
    Ah, that makes much more sense... especially considering the site. Thanks!