wsmith@m.cs.uiuc.edu (04/25/89)
> >And the real answer is... (ta ta!) > >... so you can talk to other engineers about the program without >saying, "The first A is capitalized, and the S in Set, and ... no not >that one..." I had a scheme that solved this problem. To wit: when you spell something pronounce upper and lower case letters differently. I've lost the original file but here is a reconstruction. Lower case letters are pronounced normally. (except n which is pronounced neh to make m-n more distinct.) Upper case are pronounced as follows: A--yay B--bah C--saw D--daw E--yee F--ahf G--jaw H--awtch I--yie J--jaw K--kaw L--awl M--ahm N--naw O--yo P--pah Q--kway R--air S--ahs T--tah U--yuh V--vaw W--double-yuh X--ahks Y--waw Z--zaw note that the letters R and U are irregular and alternate proposals to make S irregular are welcome... Since this has nothing to do with the brewing flame fest, I hope the brilliant idea will not be lost. :-) Bill Smith wsmith@cs.uiuc.edu uiucdcs!wsmith
kenny@m.cs.uiuc.edu (04/25/89)
/* Written 6:48 pm Apr 24, 1989 by wsmith@m.cs.uiuc.edu in m.cs.uiuc.edu:comp.lang.c */ /* ---------- "Phone Test Solution Manual" ---------- */ I had a scheme that solved this problem. To wit: when you spell something pronounce upper and lower case letters differently. I've lost the original file but here is a reconstruction. Lower case letters are pronounced normally. (except n which is pronounced neh to make m-n more distinct.) Upper case are pronounced as follows: A--yay B--bah C--saw D--daw E--yee F--ahf G--jaw H--awtch I--yie J--jaw K--kaw L--awl M--ahm N--naw O--yo P--pah Q--kway R--air S--ahs T--tah U--yuh V--vaw W--double-yuh X--ahks Y--waw Z--zaw /* End of text from m.cs.uiuc.edu:comp.lang.c */ Rather silly, in my opinion, since it makes the `telephone test' that much harder. If I'm reading letters to someone over the telephone, I'll more often than not use the radio alphabet, which eliminates the confusion between sound-alike letters, and is internationally standardized: alfa echo india mike quint uniform yankee bravo foxtrot juliet november romeo victor zulu charlie golf kilo oscar sierra whiskey delta hotel lima papa tango x-ray and distinguish between `fife' and `niner', too.
jlg@lanl.gov (Jim Giles) (04/26/89)
From article <4700034@m.cs.uiuc.edu>, by wsmith@m.cs.uiuc.edu: > Lower case letters are pronounced normally. (except n which is pronounced > neh to make m-n more distinct.) > > Upper case are pronounced as follows: > > A--yay B--bah C--saw D--daw E--yee F--ahf G--jaw H--awtch > [...] Why not use the FAA radio names for the letters: alpha, bravo, charlie, ... That way, your not reinventing the wheel (again). Of course, this still means that you are _spelling_ out your identifiers, which makes the loose any mnemonic significance they may have had. Oh well.
peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) (04/26/89)
With a last name of "dasilva -- small dee aye space capital ess eye ell vee aye"... this whole debate is like deja vu all over again. In practice very little REAL conversation passes the telephone test. -- Peter da Silva, Xenix Support, Ferranti International Controls Corporation. Business: uunet.uu.net!ficc!peter, peter@ficc.uu.net, +1 713 274 5180. Personal: ...!texbell!sugar!peter, peter@sugar.hackercorp.com.
mdfreed@ziebmef.uucp (Mark Freedman) (05/02/89)
(different pronunciation for upper and lower case)
at least one of the software / hardware "talking terminal" packages for
visually-impaired users distinguishes between upper and lower case letters
by pitch, e.g. both cases are pronounced identically, but upper case is at
a higher pitch.
this takes some adaptation, but (to me) seems more natural than introducing
an arbitrary scheme of (mis)pronunciation.
btw when can we get back to discussing the C language ???