5 ms·

Graphing the distribution of English letters

36 points by fraqed 12y ago

TwoFactor 12y ago
Its interesting the vowels all have very similar distributions except for e.
- sheltgor 12y ago
  Agreed. I would assume it is due to e being used so frequently as a modifier of other letters in the form of silent e to change the pronunciation of other vowels.
jedberg 12y ago
How can I apply this information to improve my Wheel of Fortune performance?
- theandrewbailey 12y ago
  I'm thinking of how to apply this to Scrabble performance. This explains why it's so difficult to make words with Z, because you look for words that start with Z, and that corpus is very poor. In other words, think of words like vuvuzela, not zeal.
shutupalready 12y ago
zifij, zokob, ... Looking at graphs, this could be a convenient way to generate short, pronounceable, easily-spelt, yet uncommon names for a new product or service that you want to launch.
- gabemart 12y ago
  toy extremely quick and dirty version: http://jsfiddle.net/g6JS8/ http://jsfiddle.net/g6JS8/ The results are both hard-to-pronounce and hard-to-spell, unfortunately. Edit: and here's a version with letters in their most common positions - http://jsfiddle.net/tqC5L/1/ http://jsfiddle.net/tqC5L/1/
  - DanBC 12y ago
    ading ci6 of 'y','i','o','e' makes a nice difference, giving "bouncy" names. Generating more gives more chance of good names.
- visakanv 12y ago
  I understand the merit, but I instinctively balked at the idea. Ideally, a name should communicate what the product or service does. If not, it should at least evoke imagery that is related to it. See: Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Viagra, Standard Oil. Of course, if you come up with an uncommon, 'weird' name and you got really, really good at what you do, then you'll redefine the thing itself, and your noun will become a verb. But it's such an uphill battle. All in all I suppose it's a lower order bit than getting your product or service right. You can always rename 37signals to Basecamp later on, for example.
  - DanBC 12y ago
    There are plenty of names that are nonsense (Kodak) or whose meanings are not obvious (Pyrex = Pyro (fire) Rex (king)). Using a created name means you have less risk of trademark problems. You also create a strong search benefit. (See Fedora's baffling decision to rebrand their file browser as "Files" and their curated package manager "Software" for examples of something that is now impossible to find using search engines.)
    - visakanv 12y ago
      Oh yeah, "Files" and "Software" are the opposite end of the spectrum. I'd prefer "Zizoj" to "Files" anyday. I think Pyrex is a genius name, by the way! Just went to look up the etymology of Kodak, and found this gem: "Towards the end of 1887 photographic entrepreneur George Eastman was preparing to launch his 'little roll holder breast camera', which he believed would prove popular with the growing market of amateur photographers. In order to promote global sales he wanted to give the camera a snappy and distinctive name that would be recognizable in any language. After experimenting with various combinations of vowels and consonants - aided, it was said, by an anagram game set or possibly a bowl of alphabet soup - he hit upon the name 'Kodak.' It may have been a made-up word but the prominence of the letter 'K' was not purely arbitrary - Eastman confessed to a liking for 'K', partly because his mother's maiden name was Kilbourn but also because it seemed to him 'a strong, incisive sort of letter.' His first public use of the Kodak name was in a letter to his patent lawyers on 28 January 1888. Four months later, the first 'original Kodak' went on sale and proved a runaway success. The tradename was registered in the United States on 4th September 1888 but when Eastman tried to do the same in England, the Comptroller of the British Patent Office requested a letter explaining the derivation of the word. In response, Eastman confirmed that 'Kodak is not a foreign name or word; it was constructed by me to serve a definite purpose. It has the following merits as a trade-mark word: First. It is short. Second. It is not capable of mispronunciation. Third. It does not resemble anything in the art and cannot be associated with anything in the art except the Kodak.'" (http://www.darklanecreative.com/blog/the-meaning-of-the-word-kodak http://www.darklanecreative.com/blog/the-meaning-of-the-word...) Also: Asked about the name "Kodak", George Eastman replied, "Philologically, the word Kodak is as meaningless as a child's first 'goo'—terse, abrupt to the point of rudeness, literally bitten off by firm and unyielding consonants at both ends, it snaps like a camera shutter in your face. What more would one ask!" (http://askville.amazon.com/origin-word-Kodak/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=1046777 http://askville.amazon.com/origin-word-Kodak/AnswerViewer.do...) Beautiful stuff. It's really hard to put together a universal rule here- there are certain general principles, but the exception can make all the difference. I think it's ultimately a matter of taste, and a sensitivity to language.

36 points by fraqed 12y ago

TwoFactor 12y ago

Its interesting the vowels all have very similar distributions except for e.

sheltgor 12y ago
Agreed. I would assume it is due to e being used so frequently as a modifier of other letters in the form of silent e to change the pronunciation of other vowels.

jedberg 12y ago

How can I apply this information to improve my Wheel of Fortune performance?

theandrewbailey 12y ago
I'm thinking of how to apply this to Scrabble performance. This explains why it's so difficult to make words with Z, because you look for words that start with Z, and that corpus is very poor. In other words, think of words like vuvuzela, not zeal.

shutupalready 12y ago

zifij, zokob, ... Looking at graphs, this could be a convenient way to generate short, pronounceable, easily-spelt, yet uncommon names for a new product or service that you want to launch.

gabemart 12y ago
toy extremely quick and dirty version: http://jsfiddle.net/g6JS8/ http://jsfiddle.net/g6JS8/ The results are both hard-to-pronounce and hard-to-spell, unfortunately. Edit: and here's a version with letters in their most common positions - http://jsfiddle.net/tqC5L/1/ http://jsfiddle.net/tqC5L/1/
- DanBC 12y ago
  ading ci6 of 'y','i','o','e' makes a nice difference, giving "bouncy" names. Generating more gives more chance of good names.
visakanv 12y ago
I understand the merit, but I instinctively balked at the idea. Ideally, a name should communicate what the product or service does. If not, it should at least evoke imagery that is related to it. See: Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Viagra, Standard Oil. Of course, if you come up with an uncommon, 'weird' name and you got really, really good at what you do, then you'll redefine the thing itself, and your noun will become a verb. But it's such an uphill battle. All in all I suppose it's a lower order bit than getting your product or service right. You can always rename 37signals to Basecamp later on, for example.
- DanBC 12y ago
  There are plenty of names that are nonsense (Kodak) or whose meanings are not obvious (Pyrex = Pyro (fire) Rex (king)). Using a created name means you have less risk of trademark problems. You also create a strong search benefit. (See Fedora's baffling decision to rebrand their file browser as "Files" and their curated package manager "Software" for examples of something that is now impossible to find using search engines.)
  - visakanv 12y ago
    Oh yeah, "Files" and "Software" are the opposite end of the spectrum. I'd prefer "Zizoj" to "Files" anyday. I think Pyrex is a genius name, by the way! Just went to look up the etymology of Kodak, and found this gem: "Towards the end of 1887 photographic entrepreneur George Eastman was preparing to launch his 'little roll holder breast camera', which he believed would prove popular with the growing market of amateur photographers. In order to promote global sales he wanted to give the camera a snappy and distinctive name that would be recognizable in any language. After experimenting with various combinations of vowels and consonants - aided, it was said, by an anagram game set or possibly a bowl of alphabet soup - he hit upon the name 'Kodak.' It may have been a made-up word but the prominence of the letter 'K' was not purely arbitrary - Eastman confessed to a liking for 'K', partly because his mother's maiden name was Kilbourn but also because it seemed to him 'a strong, incisive sort of letter.' His first public use of the Kodak name was in a letter to his patent lawyers on 28 January 1888. Four months later, the first 'original Kodak' went on sale and proved a runaway success. The tradename was registered in the United States on 4th September 1888 but when Eastman tried to do the same in England, the Comptroller of the British Patent Office requested a letter explaining the derivation of the word. In response, Eastman confirmed that 'Kodak is not a foreign name or word; it was constructed by me to serve a definite purpose. It has the following merits as a trade-mark word: First. It is short. Second. It is not capable of mispronunciation. Third. It does not resemble anything in the art and cannot be associated with anything in the art except the Kodak.'" (http://www.darklanecreative.com/blog/the-meaning-of-the-word-kodak http://www.darklanecreative.com/blog/the-meaning-of-the-word...) Also: Asked about the name "Kodak", George Eastman replied, "Philologically, the word Kodak is as meaningless as a child's first 'goo'—terse, abrupt to the point of rudeness, literally bitten off by firm and unyielding consonants at both ends, it snaps like a camera shutter in your face. What more would one ask!" (http://askville.amazon.com/origin-word-Kodak/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=1046777 http://askville.amazon.com/origin-word-Kodak/AnswerViewer.do...) Beautiful stuff. It's really hard to put together a universal rule here- there are certain general principles, but the exception can make all the difference. I think it's ultimately a matter of taste, and a sensitivity to language.