this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2024
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[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 35 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Well, what other word do you use to teach a kid the alphabet? Xenophoe? Xenomorph?

[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago (1 children)

xenophobe

That way you can teach the concepts of bigotry and tolerance from a young age.

[–] Siethron@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't know, a 5 year old might think that's a cool word and say they want to be xenophobe when they grow up.

[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

See, this way we can spot them earlier. Way too many of them go on to live their dream—when they could have had their course adjusted at the beginning.

[–] idunnololz@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Ok sure but I grew up in the 90s and ended up becoming a xylophone and Im not sure that's any better.

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Xolo - hairless Mexican dog

Xenops - small bird

(I don’t use X-Ray because saying the letter X doesn’t make either of the letter’s major phonetic sounds.)

[–] Assman@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

saying the letter X doesn’t make either of the letter’s major phonetic sounds

Excuse me?

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

X, spoken as a letter = ecks

Hard phonetic sound = zz, same as the letter Z (almost always at the beginning of a word. Xylophone)

Soft phonetic sound = ksk (never at the beginning of a word. Box, oxen)

(disclaimer: American English, ymmv.)

[–] oyfrog@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

By this definition, Xolo wouldn't fit because the x in Xolo is somewhere between sh- and ch-. It's a Nahuatl word and many (if not all) Xs are sh-/ch-.

Sorry for being pedantic.

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don’t be sorry, you’re not pedantic enough.

The Nahuatl word Xoloitzcuintle is something the vast majority of English-speaking Americans can’t read, let alone spell or pronounce correctly. So the more digestible word Xolo was adopted to identify Mexican hairless dogs (hard X, hard O, L, hard O).

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[–] Infynis@midwest.social 3 points 1 year ago

X, spoken as a letter ecks

Or ex

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

No, i think i get it but difficult to explain.

Say X, X, X in a row

Then say

Xylo , Xen, Xono

The Raw letter has different phonet-x to how it’s often applied.

When were talking about teaching kids the alphabet we need to train both individual and applied letters

I do realize that this might be very cultural and language dependent but i am pretty sure we’re talking plain english.

[–] Mirodir@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 year ago

When were talking about teaching kids the alphabet we need to train both individual and applied letters

This is only slightly related but I once met a young (USAmerican) adult who thought the stripy horse animal's name was pronounced zed-bra in British English and it was really hard to convince her otherwise. In her mind zebra was strongly connected to Z-bra, so of course if someone was to pronounce the letter "zed" it would turn into "zed-bra" and not just into "zeh-bra".

[–] Rusty@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago

Xanthan gum

[–] Empricorn@feddit.nl 7 points 1 year ago

X-ray? X, Professor? Xerox?

[–] gnutrino@programming.dev 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Xenon? Xylem? Xenobiology? Xanthoma? Xylocarp? Xiphoid? Xerosis? Xyster? The scrabble favorites xi and xu?

There's loads of cool words that begin with x

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Xylophone: fun, colorful, easy for a kid to remember as a cute little instrument

Xenon: An inert gas used in... MRI scans, I think?

X-ray is probably the only other 'X' word with more real-world representation than xylophone, and as pointed out above, that's not quite representative of how the letter is used phonetically in the rest of the language.

[–] gnutrino@programming.dev 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Xylem is a major component of almost all the plants you see. I'm not sure how much more real-world representation you can get...

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

By "real-world representation", I mean "how often the word is actually used in the real world." There are hundreds of trillions of neutrinos passing through you all the time, but I'd still think "nest" is a better word for kids.

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[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago
[–] rovingnothing29@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Xenomorph, gotta teach them young that sometimes it's best to just nuke the whole thing from orbit.

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[–] son_named_bort@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I see someone's a marimba fan.

[–] Bunnylux@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] blackluster117@possumpat.io 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They just have a fuller sound. Marimba master race!

[–] carbonari_sandwich@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You can't resist a 5 octave rosewood marimba.

[–] Bunnylux@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I can't afford one either!

[–] TheRealKuni@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago

The word “xylophone” comes from the Ancient Greek ξύλον (xúlon) meaning “wood” and φωνή (phōnḗ) meaning “sound” or “voice.”

So this instrument with metal bars that you hit with a hammer to produce sound is called a…?

That’s right! A “glockenspiel!”

(I stole this from someone else on the internet.)

[–] Ioughttamow@fedia.io 24 points 1 year ago
[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah, vibraphones is where it's at!

[–] frunch@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Tortoise was the first group i heard using them, led me get into some of vibraphonist Cal Tjader's material and some lesser known vibraphone groups/artists (though Tortoise is much more my speed) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EPqmgY6WTVw

Though she often played marimba, Frank Zappa's percussionist Ruth Underwood was a monster with the mallets as well... Again not vibraphones in this particular example but anyone who digs them may want to see this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e7Sq0chFjps

[–] archomrade@midwest.social 2 points 1 year ago

It was always an exciting day in band when we got to turn the vibrophone resonator fans on.

[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

As a father of toddlers learning ABCs, I agree. I've seen some weird side steps, like X-ray Fish for an animal themed one, or Xerox--- a company name. Or just straight up Fox because they couldn't think of Xylophone or any other X words.

But, what's the age appropriate alternative?

[–] CaptainBlagbird@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

X formerly known as Twitter?

[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago
[–] burgersc12@mander.xyz 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You could teach them about the wonderful sport of xarexarebut then you'd have to explain all the basque pelota sports

[–] blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago

Xavier, Charles

[–] Birch@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Mr X to the Z Xzibit

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In cartoons and music geared toward toddlers, I agree.

Where's the sick-ass xylophone solos in heavy metal though?

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[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Big xylophone is gerrymandering the alphabet.

[–] sirico@feddit.uk 7 points 1 year ago

Someone going to pop a glockenspiel

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] rockerface@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago
[–] gmtom@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

No it's not enough.

Ita a great sound, it's woody, it's haunting it's under-utilised in rock music.

https://youtu.be/ou7GZDeOp3g?si=eUvuv82oIQvo3I0y

[–] LoraxEleven@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Possibly overrepresented on a couple Frank Zappa albums..

[–] frunch@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

~~Possibly overrepresented~~ Prominently featured on a couple Frank Zappa albums..

Kidding aside, it's all a matter of taste! Luckily with Zappa there are tons of flavors to choose from 😆

[–] LoraxEleven@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I know that's right. We all fuckin love Ruth!

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