The Very-Many-Questions-Not-Worth-Their-Own-Thread Thread 36

[cardgame]

Why is a gyro (food item) pronounced "hero" while a gyroscope or gyrojet follows a more standardize phonetic? (gy as in jive)

It's just about the most separate you can get from the phonetics on paper as opposed to real life, as if ghoti was a real word. point is, it upsets me.

 

[Phrossack]

Why is a gyro (food item) pronounced "hero" while a gyroscope or gyrojet follows a more standardize phonetic? (gy as in jive)

It's just about the most separate you can get from the phonetics on paper as opposed to real life, as if ghoti was a real word. point is, it upsets me.

It's a Greek thing. The Greek pronunciation is actually /ˈʝiɾos, as it ends in an 's,' but English doesn't have that sound and usually drops the 's,' so the closest sound is /ˈjiro/, like "YEEro" or "Euro," or apparently "hero" in your case.

 

[sophie]

Why is a gyro (food item) pronounced "hero" while a gyroscope or gyrojet follows a more standardize phonetic? (gy as in jive)

It's just about the most separate you can get from the phonetics on paper as opposed to real life, as if ghoti was a real word. point is, it upsets me.

gyros is a loanword, while the other two are English neologisms formed from Greek roots.

 

[Traitorfish]

Just pronounce it "guy-ro". At least then you know you're wrong.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Why is it that in places that sell films in Britain, American movies aren't in the world cinema section?

 

[The_J]

I guess it really means "non-native English", not "non-british". Because once upon a time, non-native English meant more or less non-british... at least that'd be my explanation for this.
(depending where Canadian/AUS/NZ ends up)

 

[Lohrenswald]

Why is it that in places that sell films in Britain, American movies aren't in the world cinema section?

Cultural imperialism

 

[Traitorfish]

Why is it that in places that sell films in Britain, American movies aren't in the world cinema section?

"World cinema" is really a euphemism for "foreign-language cinema". Irish, Australian, New Zealand or Canadian movies aren't in there, either.

 

[Synobun]

How on earth do you buy games for people on Steam now ever since they added "region restrictions"?

I'm completely willing to pay more due to currency differences but it's not even an option as far as I can tell.

How do?

Figured it out. You have to buy them a Steam Gift Card that will then redeem into their Steam Wallet and be converted into their local currency. You then, I guess, have to tell them what to buy with it? Or they can tell you to sod off, I guess...

Horrible system.

It's a feature.

 

[Takhisis]

Why is a gyro (food item) pronounced "hero" while a gyroscope or gyrojet follows a more standardize phonetic? (gy as in jive)

It's just about the most separate you can get from the phonetics on paper as opposed to real life, as if ghoti was a real word. point is, it upsets me.

gyros is a loanword, while the other two are English neologisms formed from Greek roots.

Spell it ‘γυρος’ and you'll instantly see that indeed it's pronounced ’yiros’.

btw do you pronounce ‘ghoti’ as ‘fish’?

"World cinema" is really a euphemism for "foreign-language cinema". Irish, Australian, New Zealand or Canadian movies aren't in there, either.

And that's even in spite of the fact that the Beeb insists on subtitling English spoken by any native speaker born farther from London than, say, Surrey.

 

[MaryKB]

btw do you pronounce ‘ghoti’ as ‘fish’?

You pronounce "gh" like you do in "rough", "o" like you do in "women", and "ti" like when you say "station".

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Can rubbing alcohol be used to sterilize a toothbrush? I don't want to destroy it.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Can rubbing alcohol be used to sterilize a toothbrush? I don't want to destroy it.

Yes. Dip, swirl, rinse thoroughly, repeat. I'd go twice, but if your mother has bad teeth as many elderly people do three might be more appropriate.

 

[Takhisis]

Leave it out in the sun for some good UV cleansing if you can.

You pronounce "gh" like you do in "rough", "o" like you do in "women", and "ti" like when you say "station".

That's the ticket.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I got it cleaned now. There's not really any place in the house that I can put it in the sun without the cats getting to it (and putting it outside would just freeze it).

New question: What's the difference between horror, suspense, and thriller novels? I'm having trouble defining some books (adding to my Calibre library). When I google it, I get some weird vague definitions.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I got it cleaned now. There's not really any place in the house that I can put it in the sun without the cats getting to it (and putting it outside would just freeze it).

New question: What's the difference between horror, suspense, and thriller novels? I'm having trouble defining some books (adding to my Calibre library). When I google it, I get some weird vague definitions.

Horror has some sort of supernatural monster element, making it a differentiated subspecies; Dracula (the original by Bram Stoker) is a good example. Thriller is also a differentiated subspecies in that it features some sort of gory action sequences for shock value, like most serial killer type stuff. Seven comes to mind there; at the end of the day no matter how shocking the scenes and how creepy the guy was, he was still just a guy. Both are suspense, and there can be overlap, like if the supernatural element is also striking in gory action sequences like happens in most zombie apocalypse type stuff. There is also suspense that is neither horror nor thriller; most things by Robert Ludlum fall in there.

Obviously with all this overlapping the lines are pretty blurry, but hopefully that helps. At the very least you can go with the simple yes/no of if there's monsters of any kind other than just your really bad human, it's horror; vampires, zombies, evil spirits, haunted houses, all that.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Horror seems pretty clear-cut, then. Maybe I can just tag the others as "Suspense & Thriller."

 

[Kyriakos]

Why is a gyro (food item) pronounced "hero" while a gyroscope or gyrojet follows a more standardize phonetic? (gy as in jive)

It's just about the most separate you can get from the phonetics on paper as opposed to real life, as if ghoti was a real word. point is, it upsets me.

In greek they are obviously pronounced the same. As you noted, gyro just refers to the turn. Cause it is prepared on a vertical turnspit. Ie gyros is a synecdoche

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Horror seems pretty clear-cut, then. Maybe I can just tag the others as "Suspense & Thriller."

Well, that or just suspense. Suspense does include thrillers. I think in books it's a lot harder to identify thrillers specifically. In movies some sort of gratuitous blood spattering the camera lens shock scene is a solid indicator.

 

[cardgame]

Horror almost definitely includes gore above and beyond the point that is necessary (people will die in spy movies, sure, but usually not horribly). Worm has enough that turned me off reading it for a month or so (Killington or the S9 in general).

You won't find horror in most popular thriller/conspiracy kind of novels, it's definitely distinct even if the lines can blur occasionally. See also Steven King for a mix of suspense and horror. Those two go together like peanut butter and jelly.