'P Is for Pterodactyl' alphabet book teaches kids some anomalies of the English language

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/11/26/p-is-for-pterodactyl-alpha.html

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Fish.

'nuff said.

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This is why no one wants to play Ghost with me!
“What do you mean it starts with ‘cn?!’”
“Well yeah. You have a problem with jellyfish?”

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This reminds me on Shel Silverstein’s wonderful Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book: A Primer for Adults Only.

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teaches kids some anomalies of the English language

Roger That!

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Reminds me of the Cajun who named his dog Phideaux (Fido.)

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I like it. I like it alott.

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That’s a great one. I was going to mention it. But, there’s also Neil Gaiman’s Dangerous Alphabet, which was a household favorite a few years back.

It’s lyrical, brilliantly drawn, scary, and funny.

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I’m totally getting one of these. It hits even with the regular books. “Cee is for Cat!” (toddler gives puzzled look).

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Reminds me of a professor from college who would spell out his name which started with a “k, as in knife.”

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Or… Ghoti.

(That’s gh as in “enough”, o as in “women”, and ti as in “superstition”.)

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Does the book address the proper pronunciation of GIF?

I’m on the hard-G side (as in “gift”), which is of course the One True Correct Pronunciation.

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I remember seeing a whole radio alphabet like this with “w” for wrong, “a” for aether, “f” for fjord, “t” for tmesis and so on. I had a friend who had two "p"s in his last name. When asked to spell it aloud, he always included “double p, ‘p’ as in pneumonia”.

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We just got a copy and will give it to our friends who have young children.

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See, also, “Crazy ABCs” by Barenaked Ladies. Great song from a great kids album.

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The spec actually explains that it’s pronounced as “jiffy”. The only critique I’ve ever seen off that is

  • that’s not how G works (see subject of thread),
  • it looks natural to say it with a hard G and unnatural to say it with a soft G (I disagree, as the spelling is what made me guess at the soft G the first time I saw it… now of the word had been “giff,”…) and
  • everybody naturally pronounces it with a hard G until lectured (weirdly, data suggests a 50/50 split)

The last time I argued about this in person, it was with my friend who declared everything uses a hard G. My friend’s name is Geoff…

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Thompson changes it up almost every time:

I hadn’t recalled Thomson doing it as well, but here he is:

But I’m confused about “f as in fjord.” Doesn’t it start with a regular “f” sound?

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You’re right. I wish I could find that list.

					- K
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Gackass.