Overuse(Über-use?) of "uber"!?

[Cloudbringer]

Originally posted by Davros: quote: Originally posted by Cloudbringer: Hello Ramon! I'm not über qualified to use the word über in my text as I don't have the umlaut on my keyboard nor does the alt+129 thing work for me,

Hi Cloudy - well being the nosy little chap I am I simply had to try the alt 129 thing myself. After a couple of failures, I used the numeric pad for the numbering instead of the keys atop the letters, and low and behold it worked [img]smile.gif[/img]

ü ü ü [/QUOTE]Hmmm...ü ü ü oh my! It works! by gosh and by golly! What's the capital?

I'm überexcited to be typing the word über with out cutting and pasting!

[andrewas]

Ü = alt + 154

[Ramon de Ramon y Ramon]

Originally posted by Talthyr Malkaviel: There is always the English words to, two and too. And Rue (not the same as the French word, but pronounced the same.)

Sorry, but the "oo"-sound in the English words you listed is notthe same as the German "ü/ue" or the French "u". In German the equivalent to the "oo"-sound in English would be "u" and in French "ou". Confusing?

[ 05-29-2003, 01:52 PM: Message edited by: Ramon de Ramon y Ramon ]

[Talthyr Malkaviel]

Bugger, getting confused now, I see your point, an ü is pronounced more... hmm, can;t think of a good adjective.

I really can't think of English words with a ü sound... a bit like our "oo" sound, but slightly different lip shape, when I pronounce ü the lower lip is a tiny bit higher and less a continuation of the cirular shape of the upper lip.

I suspect that's not very helpful to people who don't have a clue what I'm on about though.

[Attalus]

They taught me in German class lab that there is no equivalent sound in English to the umlauted vowels, so they had us ape them until we got it right. I have to use a fair amount of nasiation to get the sound right.

[Spelca]

Originally posted by Ramon de Ramon y Ramon: I couldn't help noticing that it seems to have become incredibly fashionable as of late to the use the German word "über" in English. Does anybody know when, how and why that fashion started? I mean what is suddenly wrong with the English word "over"? Oh, while I am at it: it is definitely über and not uber. There are three special variations of the vowels a, o and u in German, called "Umlaute" (ä,ö,ü), which are pronounced quite differently from the vowels themselves, so, yes, the difference matters. I fully realize that there are no keys for the Umlaute on a English keyboard and that you probably don't know the short cut codes for them, but there is an established way around that obstacle. The three Umlaute can be written as follows: ä=ae, ö=oe and ü=ue. So, please, if you cannot resist the urge to spice up your English with a little foreign and exotic flavour, have the respect to make it: ueber. Thank you! [img]smile.gif[/img]

I don't know where all of this happened. [img]tongue.gif[/img]
But I don't see anything wrong with people writing uber or pronouncing it in an English (or any other language) way. People often take foreign words and then adjust them to the rules of their own language. As far as I know there is no "ü" ("ue") sound in English, and some people probably can't even pronounce it properly. I'm an example of one of those. [img]tongue.gif[/img] So you shouldn't be too upset because of that. Don't you, in Germany, use any English words when you speak with your friends? Like some bad words for example (since those seem to be really popular in other countries [img]tongue.gif[/img] ). Well I doubt you pronounce it in a really English (or American) way when you do. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 05-29-2003, 03:20 PM: Message edited by: Spelca ]

[Cloudbringer]

Originally posted by andrewas: Ü = alt + 154

errm, that didn't work for me- all it does is close my reply box! Am working in xp pro, could that be a problem?

[andrewas]

Odd, I use XP pro as well. I just stepped over the entire high-ASCII range (Yes, I am incredibly bored) and nothing like that happened to me.

[Luvian]

In my opinion, the word "uber" became popular first in the MMORPG world. It's used to express something that is more powerfull than "cool". German people in MMORPG told me it mean superior, which is an adequate synonym of "uber" as we consider it.

"I found an uber sword!"

We don't really care about the real wording, or even the real significance of the word, it's just part of our lingo, as is "pwned" instead of "owned".

[Yorick]

Ramon, when correcting Americans you're talking correctional spelling to a nation that took such functional french words like Litre, realisation and other English words like Borough, and made them Liter, realization and boro.

Additionally, they pronouce Notre Dame university, Note-er Daem instead of Not-reh Dahm.

You may be pushing shyht up hill.

I like Donuts reasoning, using the way language works. Constantly words are borrowed and changed. How did "über" become "over" in the first place?

Over:
Etymology: Middle English, adverb & preposition, from Old English ofer; akin to Old High German ubar (preposition) above, beyond, over, Latin super, Greek hyper

So all of us, Romans included have mutilated the Greek "Hyper". (Why do we call them Greeks anyway? They are from Hellas)

All kids are doing by taking über and removing the umlaut is going straight to an earlier source. However the word "uber" is now by definition an English (colloquial) word, as it's spelled and pronounced differently than "über" as you so kindly pointed out. [img]smile.gif[/img]

That said, I'll personally endeavor to take your feelings into account though Ramon and write über when I remember to. I'd think it would be a sign of consideration for other posters to do the same, but offense shouldn't be read into neglect of such consideration... right? [img]smile.gif[/img]

Adieu.

[ 05-29-2003, 04:35 PM: Message edited by: Yorick ]