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English is fun!
- Thread starter Cvargo
- Start date
woodpusher
TSC’s International Man of Meh
Let us all welcome our first Welsh member!
My daughter was in deep thought last night at the dinner table so I asked her what she was thinking so hard about. She told me she was trying to think of a word that didn’t have any vowels in it. I answered her with a question, “CAN a word not have a vowel in it and still BE a word?” She thought “yes” but wasn’t entirely certain, yet she offered that the word must be an old Hebrew word. I disagreed then thought for a few seconds before coming up with a word that had no vowels yet was indeed a word used regularly and without any commonly known alternative that any of us could come up with. That word was “bb” as in BB gun, yes it’s clearly a contraction or initial for something but what? We buy “bb’s” for the BB gun, we shoot bb’s. There are copper bb’s and steel bb’s ...and mom gets mad if she vacuums bb’s up. Certainly whatever “bb” stood or stands for or might have meant it has become part of our lexicon and is now as much a word as DVD, CD, MP3...oh wait, more words without vowels.
woodpusher
TSC’s International Man of Meh
Whew! So glad @The Monkey hasn't seen different ways to make "O" bingo calls. 
TobyC
"I shaved a Tribble once..."
By, cry, sly
All though remember the song from first grade? A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y. I believe in these words Y is considered the vowel. Thus putting Chris's daughter back into the quandary.
woodpusher
TSC’s International Man of Meh
%$#^%~!#$
We operated under the assumption that “sometimes ‘y’” meant ‘y’ was a vowel for purposes of our exercise. I never told my daughter that my BB idea would fail, as would DVD, MP3 & CD when properly challenged. Why? Because, as I understand the rules, a real word can’t be required to be spelled using all caps...can it? Are cd, dvd & bb acceptable when spelled out in small case or upper and lower case? Is this even worth considering further?
From airgundepot.com
SteveChuckFrank
Close Enough*
From Dictionary.com :
Shh, psst, and hmm do not have vowels, either vowel symbols or vowel sounds. There is some controversy whether they are in fact “words,” however. But if a word is “the smallest unit of grammar that can stand alone as a complete utterance, separated by spaces in written language and potentially by pauses in speech,” then those do qualify. Psst, though, is the only one that appears in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Words with no vowels
Cwm and crwth do not contain the letters a, e, i, o, u,or y, the usual vowels (that is, the usual symbols that stand for vowel sounds) in English. But in those words the letter w simply serves instead, standing for the same sound that oo stands for in the words boom and booth. Dr., nth (as in “to the nth degree”), and TV also do not contain any vowel symbols, but they, like cwm and crwth, do contain vowel sounds.Shh, psst, and hmm do not have vowels, either vowel symbols or vowel sounds. There is some controversy whether they are in fact “words,” however. But if a word is “the smallest unit of grammar that can stand alone as a complete utterance, separated by spaces in written language and potentially by pauses in speech,” then those do qualify. Psst, though, is the only one that appears in the Oxford English Dictionary.
RHYTHMS
Y is the vowel in that word.
no AEIOU and SOMETIMES Y, This is not a sometimes qualifying event there sparky
TobyC
"I shaved a Tribble once..."
It is a vowel in that instance, as compared to the "Y" usage in "yellow".
TobyC
"I shaved a Tribble once..."
Not really a word, more of a gauge or size.BB is also still commonly used for lead weights for fishing. Not sure if I would consider it a word or not though.
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