• ajoebyanyothername@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    I’m probably going to regret asking, but why the odd letters? And why, as near as I can tell, are there two different ones for ‘th’?

    • GiveOver@feddit.uk
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      35 minutes ago

      Fun fact, when you see “ye olde tavern”, the y is used in place of þ. Which is pronounced “the”.

      I don’t know why this guy insists on using these old letters but hey it’s fun seeing colourful people on the internet. I say upvote the fella.

    • PhlubbaDubba
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      6 hours ago

      ð and þ are lost letters of ð english alphabet which technically were used interchangeably, but in oðer languages represent two distinct sounds.

      Þink vs Ðou if you want to sound it out to get what’s being distinguished, it’s like ð difference between B and P, or D and T, but for ð two sounds you hear whenever you read a th.

      • ajoebyanyothername@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        Which still doesn’t really answer why use them. Why make it intentionally harder to understand your comments? What’s the upside to it?

        Edit: I’ve looked at your previous comments and saw you explain it to someone else where they’ve come from and your preference, but I feel like if you have to explain it to everyone it can’t possibly be a useful way of communicating.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          27 minutes ago

          And even after the explanation (and I already knew about the letters), it’s still expends enough energy to parse for me to not bother.

          Edit: I left out the word ‘energy’ because apparently my brain is skipping grooves this morning.