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#186489 08/14/09 11:25 AM
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The word "cwm" is extremely important, because it is in the sentence "Fjord bank cwm glyphs vext quiz.", which is the only sentence of which I know that makes sense, is without abbreviations, and uses every letter of the alphabet once each. Because of the shortage of vowels in the Roman alphabet applied to English, the use of "w" as a vowel is crucial. ("Vext" is an unusual past tense of "vex" (= puzzle or annoy) but recognized by Webster's dictionary. "Quiz" occurs here not in the usual sense, but meaning "eccentric person".)

Since fjords and cwms are both formed by glaciation, one would expect the one at the side of the other. Certainly, if I saw that someone had carved graffiti therein, I would be puzzled if I could not read it, and annoyed if I could. I am sometimes said to be eccentric.

RonDavis #186494 08/14/09 01:14 PM
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Cwm Rhondda is the tune name for two wonderful hymns: "Guide me, O thou great Jehovah" and "God of grace and God of glory." I always think of a chorus of Welsh miners when I sing them.

RonDavis #186496 08/14/09 02:01 PM
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Because of the shortage of vowels in the Roman alphabet applied to English, the use of "w" as a vowel is crucial.

I am not quite sure what this means. In English, {y} and {w} sometimes do double duty as vowels (/j/, /w/) and semi-vowels (/j/, /u/). Welsh orthography uses both {u} and {w}. In Welsh orthography, {w} is /ʊ/, /uː/, or /w/ and {y} is /ɨ/, /ɨː/, /ə/, /əː/, /ɪ/, or /iː/ (depending on the dialect). Depending on the dictionary, another word with a {w} as a vowel is crwth 'crowd' (a stringed instrument).


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #186499 08/14/09 05:23 PM
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the use of "w" as a vowel is crucial.

only in the sense of attempting one of these silly games, in this case using each letter of the alphabet only once in a meaningful(?) sentence!

tsuwm #186503 08/15/09 01:34 AM
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Ahem, sir: some of us enjoy certain kinds of games, silly or not. Of course, I am not eccentric like Ron said he is...


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