Questions

1. If English word tee is pronounced /tiː/, then how would English speakers pronounce tii?
2. If English word unique is pronounced /jʊnɪk/, then how would /jʊnɪkjuː/ be spelled?
3. Are there any English words where word-final oo is pronunced /ɔː/?
4. Is would + infinitive a mood in English?
5. Does German ever use masculine forms of titles combined with neuter forms of articles, adjectives and adjectival pronouns as gender-neutral forms, such as das Student (compared with der Student and die Studentin)?
6. How would a nonsense word with no meaning be spelled in Japanese? Would it be spelled in katakana?
7. Can a language have a diphthong where the syllabic and non-syllabic component is of the same quality, such as /ii̯/ and /o̯o/?

--40bus (talk) 00:01, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

1. Maybe like "Wii", that is "wee"?

2. Maybe like "uniqueue"? Keeping in mind that "unique" and "queue" both come from French.

3. Do you mean like the "au" in "caught"?

←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:19, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

2. Like a singular queue, instead of two separate? That might work.

3. Well, Bugs, that would depend on the English dialect, hence the usefulness of IPA, but basically Yes. I could imagine some loanword from Japanese, such as 'bakayaroo' or similar slurs, but I couldn't find anything on Wiktionary.

5. Hmm, from what I can see, the option in German is rather to use the synonym Studierender, which is interpreted as gender-neutral despite its masculine gender.

6. I guess. Katakana at least often seems to be used for pseudo-mystical incantations and such in manga, I think. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 03:23, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

Wiktionary gives [o̞ː] for the ⟨ō⟩ in the pronunciation of yarō. That is the Japanese pronunciation; the English realization (if not a spelling pronunciation) will vary, as it does for the pronunciation of the vocative particle "O", but is unlikely to come out as [ɔː].  ​‑‑Lambiam 07:10, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

Now I came to think of Momotaroo and Urashima Taroo as cleaner examples, although the point may still stand. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 17:49, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

Here is a longish discussion (in German) on the use of the term Studierende, which is the plural of both masculine Studierender and feminine Studierende. This advice on using gender-neutral language gives for the plural, next to Studierende also Studentinnen und Studenten, and for the indefinite singular ein(e) Studierende und Studierender (which does not work for me). A gender-neutral dictionary translates Student as Studi; Mitglied der Studierenden, with plural Studierende; Studis.  ​‑‑Lambiam 07:57, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

1. The same.

2. unicue. —Antonissimo (talk) 06:14, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

4. Some grammarians would call this the English conditional mood.

5. The usual German approach to gender equivalence is to use both the masculine and feminine forms, similar to English's Ladies and Gentlemen or Dear Brethren and Sisters. So for "Comrades!", the German address is Genossinnen und Genossen!   ​‑‑Lambiam 07:34, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

5. is per se not possible due to congruence of gender. If the article is neuter, then the noun is neuter, cf. das Band 'ribbon, belt' vs. der Band 'volume of a book', der Schild 'shield' vs. das Schild 'plate, sign' etc. There are even nouns that can have several genders without changing their meaning, e. g. der or das Marzipan 'marzipan'. So if you change the article the gender also changes, cf. der Mensch 'human being' and das Mensch 'negative and regional for woman'. In German there is a difference between "Genus", i. e. the grammatical gender, e. g. "das Mädchen" 'the girl', "das Weib" 'the woman (old-fashioned)', all neuter, and "Sexus", the biological gender, cf. Mark Twain, "The Awful German Language", dealing with this topic for more than a paragraph.--~2026-58296-07 (talk) 15:55, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

Also die Band 'band, group', I believe, likely due to it being feminine in Romance languages. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 17:47, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

I don't see the connection to the Romance languages; an analogy to die Gruppe or die Bande ("gang") seems more plausible to me. Feminine Band is usually pronounced the English way, so the three genders are homographs but not homophones. --Wrongfilter (talk) 08:02, 3 November 2026 (UTC)

Translation please

Could someone please translate the captions on this cartoon? I believe the language is Russian. There is a caption above the cartoon, and one below. I suspect the wording at bottom right also belongs to it. The cartoon shows David Lloyd George hanged by the neck from the Star and crescent, with Constantinople and the Strait below him. Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 15:26, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

A machine translation is as follows. To be honest, I would be surprised if a native Russian speaker could do a better job.

Above the cartoon:

Russian: «Ближне-Восточный узел.»

Translation: "The Near Eastern Knot." (or "The Middle East Knot.")

Below the cartoon:

Russian: «Узел надежный. Крюк крепкий.»

Translation: "The knot is reliable. The hook is sturdy."

--Viennese Waltz 15:34, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

The text at the bottom right discusses some agreement to establish a Russo-German venture. It may belong to the article whose partially visible headline is "... реакции в Германии." ("... reactions in Germany.").  ​‑‑Lambiam 08:21, 3 November 2026 (UTC)

Thank you both. I think the Russo-German venture would have been Russgertorg (mentioned in Otto Wolff). DuncanHill (talk) 16:55, 3 November 2026 (UTC)

The timing fits: Russgertorg/Росгерторг was founded in October 1922, and Lloyd George resigned on 19 October 1922 over the Çanakkale Crisis.  ​‑‑Lambiam 07:37, 5 November 2026 (UTC)

The Russian name 'Росгерторг' seems to be composed of syllables 'рос-гер-торг' (ros-ger-torg), which is a short of 'российско-германская торговля', meaning 'Russian-German trade'. --CiaPan (talk) 09:56, 5 November 2026 (UTC)

The suspended figure must be an older Lloyd George, who is mentioned in the partial text column to the left of the cartoon. —Amble (talk) 17:42, 3 November 2026 (UTC)

Er, yes - that's mentioned in the question. --Viennese Waltz 18:17, 3 November 2026 (UTC)

Good point! But it still may help the OP to look for additional info in the column to the left, which seems to be related to the cartoon, rather than the text below, which belongs to a different article. —Amble (talk) 21:43, 3 November 2026 (UTC)

What's the most common pronunciation of 'Tuesday' in modern RP?

What's the most common pronunciation of 'Tuesday' in modern RP? The former or the latter from these: https://www.oed.com/dictionary/tuesday_n ? Or even different one? ~2026-58381-85 (talk) 22:20, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

I was thinking "TYOOZ-day", and there are some American regions where it's said that way too. But the OED didn't look far enough, as many Americans say it as "TOOZ-day". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:54, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

The 18th edition of Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (2011) gives the coalesced forms first, saying, In words like 'tune' and 'dune', where earlier editions have recommended /tjuːn/ and /djuːn/ for BBC pronunciation, it now seems /tʃuːn/ and /dʒuːn/ are more widely used and these pronunciations are given priority for most such words, with the /tj/ and /dj/ pronunciations as second choice (pp. xviii–xix). Nardog (talk) 23:31, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

I think for RP the first, /ˈtjuːzdeɪ/ TYOOZ-day. I remember teachers in the 80's of last century rather deprecating the /ˈtʃuːzdeɪ/ CHOOZ-day pronunciation, as fit only for a day on which toffee is consumed. I also think you'll find a lot of -dee not -day in the UK, but that's definitely not RP. DuncanHill (talk) 23:49, 2 November 2026 (UTC)

It depends on whether it comes immediately after "Ruby". --Trovatore (talk) 00:01, 3 November 2026 (UTC)

The change from [tj] to [tʃ] is known as yod-coalescence. The difference in articulation is small; I think the actual realizations are not a binary choice but may be thought of as falling on a spectrum.  ​‑‑Lambiam 07:44, 3 November 2026 (UTC)

In my opinion, CHOOZ-day is more typical of Estuary English than RP which is conservative by definition. Alansplodge (talk) 12:52, 4 November 2026 (UTC)

RP can be modern, though ~2026-58950-87 (talk) 23:21, 4 November 2026 (UTC)

This is not exactly on-topic, but it reminds me of the first time I went to the UK and I was wandering around London by myself, somewhere around what they call "The City" but isn't San Francisco, and I wasn't sure how to get somewhere. Someone who may have been a pub owner or some such told me to take the [tʃyːb]. For you respellers that would be something like CHÜÜB with a long drawn-out version of the vowel from German fünf or French une. I made him repeat it a couple of times, but I wasn't making fun of him; I just couldn't figure out what he meant. It finally filtered through to me. --Trovatore (talk) 19:03, 4 November 2026 (UTC)

Musical note values in Canada

Does English-speaking Canada use British names for musical note values (semibreve, minim, etc.) or American ones (whole note, half note, etc.)? ~2026-58493-72 (talk) 14:46, 3 November 2026 (UTC)

My Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) Celebrate Theory book uses American note names even though it is a Canadian publication. I do not think it is altered for American audiences. I believe that it is the same book that I would have received if I purchased it in Canada. ~2026-46630-01 (talk) 18:52, 3 November 2026 (UTC)

My only significant involvement in music is some piano lessons in my youth, but I've never heard of the British terms until now. I'd be totally shocked if we didn't use American terminology due to our close ties with the giant gorilla to the south. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:36, 4 November 2026 (UTC)

The weirdest thing about the British nomenclature is that a note so long that it takes up two whole measures in most common time signatures has a name that means "short". --Trovatore (talk) 23:58, 4 November 2026 (UTC)

This is because the system originates in mediaeval church music (hence also the Latin/Italian names) in which notes were usually very long by modern standards. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-56420-06 (talk) 23:51, 5 November 2026 (UTC)

Taking Presto (music) ♩ = 120  as a yardstick and applying this to the mensural maxima

= 32 × ♩,

we get a duration of 16 seconds. That is implausibly long for any note to be held. Surely, the typical duration of these originally mensural notations was originally not that long but increased in the course of time, even as their names did not, a duration inflation comparable to, but more drastic than, the pitch inflation.  ​‑‑Lambiam 11:11, 6 November 2026 (UTC)

I have heard, for example, modern heavy metal singers hold a note that long, and in plainchant choirs it might have been done by a 'vocal relay' so to speak.

[Edited to add] Musical instruments, such as organs, can of course also do so. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-56420-06 (talk) 23:38, 6 November 2026 (UTC)

A "post" by one voice at the end of a barbershop tag can certainly go that long, but the idea of notating it by a single note seems—not particularly practical. --Trovatore (talk) 23:52, 6 November 2026 (UTC)

Maybe we could switch, if only to say fuddle duddle to the Orange One. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:40, 4 November 2026 (UTC)

That happened last Tuesday. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:46, 8 November 2026 (UTC)

Why wasn't it in the news? I guess it was not considered important.  ​‑‑Lambiam 08:36, 9 November 2026 (UTC)}

British word or expression for "water park"

Cambridge says "water park" is mostly American: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/water-park

What's the British equivalent then? Trotvantani (talk) 12:43, 8 November 2026 (UTC)

I'm not sure they exist here. DuncanHill (talk) 13:08, 8 November 2026 (UTC)

How come? Are there no water parks in the UK? If they do exist, what do you say if you want to suggest going there? Trotvantani (talk) 13:18, 8 November 2026 (UTC)

I can't tell whether that was British irony, but Sandcastle Waterpark (Blackpool) implies that the same word is used. I'm not sure on whether the spaced distinction would be considered important. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 13:19, 8 November 2026 (UTC)

@Wakuran, @Trotvantani: I may have mistaken @DuncanHill's intention, but I don't think it was irony. Category:Water_parks_in_the_United_Kingdom suggests there are a handful of these entities in the UK which seem to use the word as part of their branding, but I don't recall the term "waterpark" being used as a generic term. Nobody has ever said they'll meet me at a waterpark. Common terms used here are leisure centre (often with one or more pools, other exercising facilities, and British English pronunciation and spelling), and lido (think British weather, not Italian). Bazza 7 (talk) 14:04, 8 November 2026 (UTC)

I had never heard of a water park, or a waterpark, in the UK. That's why I said what I said. Swimming pools, baths, lidos, leisure centres, theme parks, and the like, yes, we have those. DuncanHill (talk) 14:14, 8 November 2026 (UTC)

A quick Google suggests that most British facilities that call themselves "waterpark" are indoors, for obvious reasons given our temperate climate. An exception is the New Forest Water Park which seems atypical of waterparks found in warmer latitudes. Alansplodge (talk) 18:13, 8 November 2026 (UTC)

Interesting: I find I have lived 19 miles from the location of this facility for 35 years, and had never before heard of it. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-56420-06 (talk) 01:25, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

I've (also) heard 'waterpark' many times, but never used it in the UK, simply because its not a thing here. Perhaps I've sometimes been using American words like train station rather than railway station. Or using the month first in dates but never in the short format, (noting the fact that its currently 9/11 in the European date format) JuniperChill (talk) 12:06, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

It certainly is a thing. The Cotswold Water Park is an extended area of lakes (mostly former gravel pits) in S.E Gloucestershire and N. Wiltshire. MinorProphet (talk) 12:52, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure the Costwold Water Park, with open water lakes with ducks, geese and swans, and surrounded by nature trails, is not the same kind of thing as the Water parks found in the USA, which have chlorinated swimming pools, various water slides, and other water-based entertainment and activities largely aimed at kids. Astronaut (talk) 16:19, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

Apply to, or apply for

An expression I've seen in American novels is "apply to a job". This sounds odd to my antipodean ears. In my world, one applies TO a potential employer, but one applies FOR a job.

Is 'applying to' interchangeable with 'applying for' in US-speak? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:07, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

No. Your third sentence is correct. Maybe "apply to a job" was a thing at some point, but I doubt recently. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:25, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

I came across it twice in The Wedding People (2024), which I've just finished. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 10:36, 10 November 2026 (UTC)

Bizarre. Maybe it's a thing in the author's generation? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:09, 10 November 2026 (UTC)

Kids these days, no respect for the norms. —Antonissimo (talk) 20:15, 10 November 2026 (UTC)

Curiously, the novel also uses "apply for (a job)": "It did not feel okay when they were at a faculty event, and someone suggested she apply for the new tenure-track job in English."

Unrelated, but even curiouser: there is a book on Google Books by the title The Woman Who Came for the Wedding: A Woman's Reckoning at a Cliffside Inn by prolific author Marlowe Quinn Steele, whose content (as far as I have checked) is identical to Espach's novel, except that the names have been altered; the protagonist is not named Phoebe but Evelyn, Grandpa Jim is Grandpa Frank, and the wedding is not the Wedding of Lila and Gary but of Daphne and Martin.  ​‑‑Lambiam 20:18, 10 November 2026 (UTC)

It might be worth someone looking more deeply into the œuvre of "Marlowe Quinn Steele" and her publisher "Joseph W Stafford". DuncanHill (talk) 20:37, 10 November 2026 (UTC)

"Evelyn" is still a professor of literature from St Louis, and she's still choosing to stay at the Cornwall Inn. Aren't these coincidences simply amazing! -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:18, 10 November 2026 (UTC)

Sounds like a good writing technique to enhance productivity. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 23:01, 10 November 2026 (UTC)

I have a vision of Jack's ghostly head, roughly 8000 miles across, sharing space with our planet à la Kitty Pryde, in such a way that his left ear is at the antipodes of his right ear. Should I talk to someone about this? --Trovatore (talk) 00:08, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

It's a frightening vision, but I guess we just must remain phased... 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 02:48, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

I had to google Kitty Pryde. Bisexual non-existent female superheroes are not exactly my thing. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:51, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

I too prefer asexual existent non-binary superheroes.  ​‑‑Lambiam 22:22, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

POV: She's a 10 but she doesn't exist. --Trovatore (talk) 19:55, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

Is that binary or decimal? 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 21:43, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

Since existence is not a predicate, it doesn't really matter. --Trovatore (talk) 21:56, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

Is "d" in the "hidden" a flap [ɾ] or an ordinary [d]?

I wonder how to pronounce "hidden" in GA. Should I use a flap [ɾ] or an ordinary [d]? Menarediscriminateda (talk) 21:53, 11 November 2026 (UTC)

You say it with a short "i" and a single "d" sound, followed by an "n" sound, like "hid'n". Whether that's a "flap" or not, I dunno. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:23, 11 November 2026 (UTC)

I don't want to be rude, but what's the point in giving unhelpful answers like that? If you "dunno" whether there's a flap or not, then this question isn't for you Menarediscriminateda (talk) 23:21, 11 November 2026 (UTC)

I'm telling you how to pronounce it. If you can't tell if that constitutes a "flap" or not, that's on you. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:24, 11 November 2026 (UTC)

I have to go with the OP on this one. Saying it's like "hid'n" doesn't really explain what it sounds like. If you're going to answer phonology questions it might help to learn some phonology.

I'm not sure of the answer. It's definitely not an ordinary [d]. I feel like it's articulated fairly far back, maybe a voiced postalveolar flap. I almost want to say there might be a hint of a glottal stop at the same time. I'll upload a recording and let you judge. --Trovatore (talk) 23:47, 11 November 2026 (UTC)

Here ya go: --Trovatore (talk) 23:52, 11 November 2026 (UTC)

Uploading a voice recording is completely unhelpful.

People hear differently depending on what languages they are used to. I can hear the difference between /l/ and /r/, but Japanese people often can't.

It would be easier to say "Yes, it usually contains a flap" or "No, it doesn't usually contain a flap" or just say nothing if you don't know Menarediscriminateda (talk) 08:56, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

Yes, exactly as I described. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:52, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

Your mileage might vary... 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 12:41, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

Yeah, but Bugs, look, I knew what you meant. But that's because you and I both speak GA. The questioner presumably does not. So what good does it do to give them a spelling that only another GA speaker will understand?

If you want to answer these sorts of questions, you need to do it using representations that have standardized meanings the questioners can either understand or look up. You could do this with anatomical terminology (the manner of articulation is plosive, the place of articulation is post-alveolar ) and so on, or if that's too annoying (which it is) you can just use IPA. I don't understand why you seem to have such an aversion to that. You don't have to learn it all at once; if you follow these discussions you should pick it up bit by bit. --Trovatore (talk) 05:30, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

In case you don't understand, here is the issue. When you pronounce hidden like "hid'n", with a single "d" sound (as all of us do), is this 'single "d" sound' you produce a flap, or is it not a flap? How would we know? It is like answering the question, 'how do you pronounce "bird"', by saying, 'with an "ir" sound'.  ​‑‑Lambiam 09:04, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

Nobody asked you to say how to pronounce. The question is about whether it contains a flap or not. Your comment is completely unhelpful because it's not an answer to my question Menarediscriminateda (talk) 08:51, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

FWIW, Wiktionary lists only one pronunciation: / ˈhɪd.(ə)n/. For ridden, though, it gives this range without geographic indications:

/ ˈɹ ɪ d.n̩/, [ ˈɹʷ ɪ.dn̩], [ ˈɹʷ ɪ.d̚n̩], (with t-flapping) [ ˈɹʷ ɪ.ɾn̩]

‑‑Lambiam 08:43, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

So does it usually contain a flap or not? Menarediscriminateda (talk) 08:58, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

Going by the ranges of the pronunciations given by Wiktionary for words ending on -Vdden, it would appear that for these words a flap is not usual, unlike for words ending on -Vddle.  ​‑‑Lambiam 09:21, 12 November 2026 (UTC)

Per the other (useful) comments, -Vdden words in GA take [Vdn̩], with a nasally released alveolar stop which does not become a flap. (And the notion of there being a difference between hidden and ridden on this point is definitely spurious.) -Vddle words, on the other hand, do tend to take a laterally released flap. ~2026-60109-89 (talk) 05:57, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

/n/ is a stop, and it forces the adjacent /d/ to be a stop as well. Rather like /n/ prevents the lenition of a following /d/ in Spanish.

But if it's true that there is an optional schwa, as the transcription /ˈhɪd(ə)n/ shows, then I would expect a flap in the /ˈhɪdən/ pronunciation, and a stop in the /ˈhɪdn/ pronunciation. I don't know though if /ˈhɪdən/ is an actual variant pronunciation, or just a transcription artifact of how to represent syllabic consonants. — kwami (talk) 07:16, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

[-ɾən] is reported at least for /-tən/. I've noticed Ezra Klein and Rian Johnson have it. Nardog (talk) 13:34, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

Thanks! — kwami (talk) 18:57, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

Kwami, you say /n/ is a stop? I thought it was a semivowel. --Trovatore (talk) 17:57, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

Not a semivowel. Those would be /j/ and /w/, where you could argue whether they're consonants or vowels.

Terminology varies. For some, "stop" is just a synonym of plosive. But more generally, it's anything that completely stops oral airflow. Clicks and nasals are stops in this broad sense. This affects phonetic behaviour: because the oral cavity is blocked during the pronunciation of /n/, that blockage tends to bleed over to adjacent consonants, such as a preceding /d/ in English and a following /d/ in Spanish. In Swahili, /n/ turns a following /r/ into a /d/. It's a fairly widespread pattern. — kwami (talk) 19:02, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

It's strange to call it a stop if the sound doesn't stop. When you say it "completely blocks oral airflow" I guess the word "oral" is doing some work here? That is, the airflow isn't blocked but redirected through the nose?

I've always put the nasals together with the liquids [l] and [r], the "singable consonants" (which would also include the voiced fricatives). You can hold a note on [n]; you can't on a stop. --Trovatore (talk) 19:15, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

That's probably the main reason that some people don't like using the word "stop" for nasals, and for changing the old term "nasal stop" to just "nasal". But it is a useful category to have, for cases like the current one. Perhaps occlusive is a better label. [I should have used that. I just tend to fall back on the first term I learned.]

BTW, the "singable" consonants (apart from fricatives) are called sonorants. — kwami (talk) 19:39, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

Cool. Is there a word for sonorants plus voiced fricatives/voiced approximants?

(Which brings up another tangent. I'm currently fiddling around with learning Arabic, and there's this letter ﻉ which I think represents a voiced pharyngeal approximant, but phonemically it seems to behave more like a stop. I can't imagine singing it, or maybe I just don't want to. I have difficulty distinguishing it from a glottal stop in practice; it just kind of feels like a "soft glottal stop", or sometimes I can't hear it at all. Is there some sort of continuum between approximants and stops, maybe not phonological so much as their linguistic function?) --Trovatore (talk) 21:37, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

No. "Continuant" includes fricatives and approximants, but both voiced and voiceless. Although, people do sometimes modify the scope of a term to fit the behaviour (natural classes) of the language they're describing. (More often they just assign it a capital letter, though, like R for {resonant} but then note that their R isn't exactly the standard conception of 'resonant'.)

Arabic <ﻉ> is "supposed" to be a pharyngeal approximant [ʕ̞], and maybe that's what it is when you can't hear it. However, most commonly it seems to be an emphatic glottal stop, [ʔˤ]. For the inaudible tokens, could also be that the speaker is attempting to say [ʔˤ], but their glottis doesn't quite reach its target, so you're just left with the [ˤ] part.

It will probably take you a few weeks to reliably hear the difference between the Arabic pharyngeals and glottals. It can be a bit subtle, and isn't something your brain is used to processing. — kwami (talk) 22:05, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

As a GA speaker, either the nasally released /ˈhɪdn/ or the flapped /'hɪɾən/ is natural for me. I believe I'm more likely to use the nasally released version if there's a vowel following, and the flapped version otherwise. --Amble (talk) 18:47, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

Do I capitalize the word “calendar” in the names of calendars?

For example, is “Gregorian Calendar” or “Gregorian calendar” correct? Primal Groudon (talk) 16:12, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

@Primal Groudon: Collins suggests here, here and here that you should not. Bazza 7 (talk) 16:15, 13 November 2026 (UTC)

It's just a noun, not part of a title. Unless you have Germanic tendencies, it's lowercase. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:44, 14 November 2026 (UTC)