Madame Bonheur ([info]amitabhbachchan) wrote in [info]mock_the_stupid,
2005-07-14 13:06:00
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  • Mood: jubilant
  • Music: chicago revival cast recording

I'm not sure how to describe this.

When I was younger, my classmates and I all had pen pals in Iowa. My teacher decided that we should have pen pal-pals to help us write letters, and I ran into mine at the mall yesterday. He was accompanied by a less-than-bright friend -- when he introduced me to her, he explained how we knew each other, and this exchange ensued:

Friend: You know, I've always wondered what Iowa's real name is.
Me: What do you mean?
Friend: Like we're in the state of New Jersey.
Pen pal-pal: Oh, like how Massachusetts is "the commonwealth"? I think Iowa is a state...
Friend: No, no. Iowa can't be a state name. It's like, a nickname.
Me: Huh?
Friend: A nickname. Like if you have a long name, people will shorten it, and call you by that.
Me: Right, but...states don't have nicknames...
Pen pal-pal: No, she's right, they do. Like New Jersey is the Garden State. I don't know what Iowa's is, though.
Friend: No, Iowa is the nickname!
Me: *wishes she had gone to Short Hills*
Friend: It can't be the real name.
Me: Wait. Why not?
Friend: It doesn't have any consonants. You can't have a proper noun without consonants.
Me: *misses the whole Iowa-has-no-consonants thing* Yeah, you can. Isn't I a proper noun?
Pen pal-pal: Iowa has a consonant. W. Uh, it was nice seeing you. Bye!

He then hauled his friend away too quickly for me to assure him that I do know that W is a consonant :(

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  • 113 comments

[info]libwitch

July 14 2005, 18:02:17 UTC 6 years ago

and off I go to find asprin.

That whole conversation makes my head hurt.

[info]rincebrain

July 14 2005, 18:06:18 UTC 6 years ago

There are so many things amusing and wrong with that conversation.

Also, sup Jersey person.

[info]southernkitten

July 14 2005, 18:08:51 UTC 6 years ago

I....ummm....
*boggle*

[info]atdelphi

July 14 2005, 18:12:32 UTC 6 years ago

...*headdesk*

Though there is an argument for the 'w' in 'Iowa' actually being a vowel, that doesn't so much chip a piece off that block of stupidity.

[info]ryf

July 14 2005, 18:27:20 UTC 6 years ago

How is that? In German, consonanants are defined by the way you pronounce them and w is quite clearly a consonant after that rule, but in English w is... well 'double-you', is that the reason?

[info]atdelphi

July 14 2005, 18:37:08 UTC 6 years ago

*laughs* I only know this because it was pounded into my head by an English prof mother of a friend who would always insist on saying that the vowels were a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y and w, and I recently had it confirmed by a linguist friend of mine.

It's because linguistically in the word 'Iowa', if you removed the 'w' you would have 'Ioa' - and if you pronounced it so that there were no diphthongs, you have a 'w' sound ocurring naturally, the way you do when pronouncing other certain pairs of vowels in succesion: ex. 'Joey' or 'mooing'. In these cases the 'w' sound is made by vowels, so it's a vowel sound - whereas it's a consonant sound when appearing in words like 'word.'

The reason it's marked in the way we associate with a consonent in a word like 'Iowa' and not in 'Joey' is because the pronounciation would be ambiguous if it were there - just like how 'mowing' as 'moing' could be mistaken for a diphthong rhyming with the sound effect 'boing' if the w weren't there.

*reads above* I hope I explained that right - I'm rubbish at explaining language stuff. :-)

[info]ryf

6 years ago

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[info]atdelphi

6 years ago

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[info]lomaprieta

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[info]atdelphi

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[info]ryf

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[info]kadath

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[info]elcaminohippie

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[info]atdelphi

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[info]elcaminohippie

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[info]atdelphi

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[info]badseed1980

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[info]str8_edge_4ever

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[info]sisiphus

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[info]annetangent

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[info]atdelphi

6 years ago

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...and 16 more comments... from [info]hasu, [info]clare_dragonfly, [info]active_apathy… Expand

[info]maantje

July 15 2005, 12:36:56 UTC 6 years ago

In linguistics, a vowel is considered to be a sound that you can keep producing. For example, it is possible to make a very long 'a' sound, but you cannot make a long 'p' sound. 'w', 'j', 'l' and 'r' are therefore sometimes considered to be semi-vowels.

[info]str8_edge_4ever

6 years ago

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[info]atdelphi

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[info]str8_edge_4ever

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[info]atdelphi

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[info]i_dreamed_i_was

July 14 2005, 18:23:47 UTC 6 years ago

Iowa isn't a state name? What about Ohio?

And now... I hate to mock the mocker...

Mock: I is a "proper noun?"

Pedantic Mock: Like atdelphi said, there's an argument for w-as-vowel.

Aw, That's Cute! Mock: It's just "pen pal." A pal is a friend. A pen pal is a friend you correspond with. No need for the extra pal in "pen pal-pal."

:)

[info]amitabhbachchan

July 14 2005, 18:26:31 UTC 6 years ago

i know, i know, when i was typing it i was thinking, "wait. why did i say that?" in my defense, my brain was fried from hours of calculus homework :'(

we called them pen pal-pals because they helped us write our letters to our pen pals. i always resented mine because he never let me write anything on the letter but my name.

[info]leila82

6 years ago

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[info]i_dreamed_i_was

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[info]scoopage

6 years ago

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[info]shinyobject

July 25 2005, 16:02:32 UTC 6 years ago

I is a "proper noun?"

...well, you capitalize it, so i can see the point.

[info]macabre_grrl

July 14 2005, 18:34:31 UTC 6 years ago

We played this game in fifth grade where we were divided into teams and we had to make a list of al fifty states in a few minutes, something like that. This girl on my team nearly had a stroke trying to tell us that Delaware was NOT a state but a town in Massachusetts. We wasted much of our time fighting with her and finally gave in to keep her from exploding. It turns out we could have won...except SOMEONE had to be stupid AND a psycho.

[info]jellobelle

July 14 2005, 18:48:33 UTC 6 years ago

When I lived in Minnesota, we played a similar game, though with State Capitols. A little backstory - I was born and spent most of my early years in New York. - So, my team consisted of the "prepettes" the think-they-know-it-alls in my class. So it comes to New York, and I say "Albany" Prepette#1 - No its not, its New York City. After five minutes, the team voted who was right, and went with this idiot. So when the scores were tallied, the teacher not only took off a point for getting the capitol of New York wrong, but he took extra points because I "should've known better"...Totally not fair and the rest of the team ended up hating me, cause we lost the prize, and it was somehow my fault.

Flash forward a year, and a similar game (We looped teachers at that school) though playing as individuals, and the same prepette makes the same mistake and he gives her the point! When I asked him why, he said that she didn't know any better and we must make things fair. "She doesn't have the same advantage as you, she never lived there"

I'm sure that to this day, they're all convinced that New York City is the capitol of New York state.

[info]macabre_grrl

6 years ago

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[info]jellobelle

6 years ago

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[info]amitabhbachchan

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[info]jellobelle

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[info]mis_mis_eree

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[info]mcity

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[info]isancho

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[info]mcity

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...and 19 more comments... from [info]hasu, [info]charliesmum, [info]turtle488… Expand

[info]tasterainbows

July 14 2005, 19:03:02 UTC 6 years ago

When my mother met her now-husband, he was from San Francisco and we were from the east coast; my mother grew up in Delaware.

We invited this man to come to Christmas dinner with us at the grandparents' house in DE and my mother spent about an hour on the phone with him trying to convince him it's its own state - he thought it was part of Maryland!

Apparently, Delaware is an easy state to overlook.

[info]jannyblue

6 years ago

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[info]leila82

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[info]likescarecrows

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[info]tasterainbows

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[info]likescarecrows

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[info]amitabhbachchan

6 years ago

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[info]shrinni

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[info]pingpong_abyss

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[info]dreamoflight

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[info]ciara_belle

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[info]mcity

July 14 2005, 21:26:39 UTC 6 years ago

Let me guess...she never apoligized, or admitted she was wrong.
What was the prize?

[info]macabre_grrl

6 years ago

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[info]towel_bird

July 15 2005, 01:00:28 UTC 6 years ago

Are you sure it wasn't Florida? There is a Florida, Massachusetts, but there's no Delaware.

[info]macabre_grrl

6 years ago

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[info]renata_hpjc

6 years ago

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[info]mdyesowitch

July 14 2005, 18:36:10 UTC 6 years ago

At first I thought Friend was looking for the state appreviation, but, that doesn't really work either.

[info]traecrochet

July 14 2005, 18:42:48 UTC 6 years ago

Me: *wishes she had gone to Short Hills*


HAHA too funny! What mall were you at, if you don't mind me asking. That was I know to avoid it.

[info]amitabhbachchan

July 14 2005, 18:45:54 UTC 6 years ago

Menlo! Middlesex County represizent.

[info]traecrochet

6 years ago

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[info]italian_diver

6 years ago

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[info]kissthenerd

6 years ago

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[info]amitabhbachchan

6 years ago

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[info]elcaminohippie

July 14 2005, 19:07:11 UTC 6 years ago

I think she had it backwards. Iowa IS the state name, "The Hawkeye" state is the nickname.

[info]ryttu3k

July 26 2005, 04:05:23 UTC 6 years ago

I thought Hawkeye was from Maine ;)

[info]elcaminohippie

6 years ago

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[info]ryttu3k

6 years ago

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[info]insaint

July 14 2005, 20:00:11 UTC 6 years ago

Good god. Your pen pal thought you were the stupid one?

*facepalm*

[info]eponymic

July 15 2005, 06:54:13 UTC 6 years ago

I read it like the pen pal-pal was trying to hurry his friend away so that the pen pal-pal could hurry up and shoot the friend behind the barn quickly for that idiocy, or to prevent the OP from thinking that all his friends are that dumb. While it sounded like the OP was fearing what you said, I don't think that was the intention of the pen pal-pal.

[info]sandtigeress

July 15 2005, 18:53:27 UTC 6 years ago

. . . What?

That conversation gave me a braincramp. . .

[info]op_wet_weasel

July 17 2005, 07:12:21 UTC 6 years ago

make fun of these fat bitches, click the journal link and get to posting.. use agent names sign - agent _________

[info]vjeranadaljubav

July 18 2005, 23:24:53 UTC 6 years ago

Hopefully that friend didn't know about the Croatian island of Krk... it would make her head explode. "But- there are no vowels!"
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