Travis B. wrote: ↑Mon Feb 23, 2026 8:19 amI am fully aware of how CGA works -- but the matter is that a combination of a simple LUT combined with the special circuitry you talk about could be used to arrive at a black-white-orange-blue color scheme (orange could have been "dark yellow" instead of brown).
Well yes, but a "simple LUT" would also have costed money. I saw a youtube video once of someone who actually added some register chip and made this possible, but can't find the link atm. Also, you weren't the first wanting black-white-orange-blue. But orange can't be gotten as easily as brown. Also, IBM chose brown because that was the colour their terminals had.
Can or should you write "fig leaf" as one word? My spellchecker just told me that I can't, so I wrote it as two words, but I felt a bit weird about that.
Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 1:51 amCan or should you write "fig leaf" as one word? My spellchecker just told me that I can't, so I wrote it as two words, but I felt a bit weird about that.
Your spellchecker is correct. Why would you want to write it as a single word? Compound nouns are usually written with a space, so why would "fig leaf" be any different?
Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 1:51 amCan or should you write "fig leaf" as one word? My spellchecker just told me that I can't, so I wrote it as two words, but I felt a bit weird about that.
Your spellchecker is correct. Why would you want to write it as a single word? Compound nouns are usually written with a space, so why would "fig leaf" be any different?
Because it is a unitary concept. like blackboard and blackbird. In botanical usage, it should remain two words.
Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 1:51 amCan or should you write "fig leaf" as one word? My spellchecker just told me that I can't, so I wrote it as two words, but I felt a bit weird about that.
Your spellchecker is correct. Why would you want to write it as a single word? Compound nouns are usually written with a space, so why would "fig leaf" be any different?
Because it is a unitary concept. like blackboard and blackbird. In botanical usage, it should remain two words.
Raphael not understanding English spelling conventions on compounds is understandable, he's German.
Here's a quick guide to English spelling conventions on compounds: use the dictionary, because it's arbitrary and unpredictable.
Compounds start out with spaces, then at some point grow hyphens, then at some point get fused into words. No one is in charge, any one compound may stay in one stage for an arbitrary period, and different style guides or editors or countries will disagree.
There's something to be said for the Germanlanguagecompoundsuffixingsystem, but we don't have it.
Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 10:16 amI think the reason why I asked in the first place was that I thought I remembered seeing it written as one word in some internet discussions.
Well, Wikitionary has an entry, but otherwise it seems used exclusively in brand names. That a random person on the internet wrote it without space is of course not suprising nor noteworthy.
jal wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 3:18 am
Your spellchecker is correct. Why would you want to write it as a single word? Compound nouns are usually written with a space, so why would "fig leaf" be any different?
Because it is a unitary concept. like blackboard and blackbird. In botanical usage, it should remain two words.
Raphael not understanding English spelling conventions on compounds is understandable, he's German.
Here's a quick guide to English spelling conventions on compounds: use the dictionary, because it's arbitrary and unpredictable.
Compounds start out with spaces, then at some point grow hyphens, then at some point get fused into words. No one is in charge, any one compound may stay in one stage for an arbitrary period, and different style guides or editors or countries will disagree.
There's something to be said for the Germanlanguagecompoundsuffixingsystem, but we don't have it.
Somewhat relevant is how different Englishes can treat the same phrase differently. For example, take "weekend". In British English, it's still transparently "week + end", but in American English, it's fused into a single word to the point that some people don't even realize what the second morpheme is. Despite this, it's spelt as a single word everywhere.
jcb wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 9:01 pm
Q: How do people here pronounce the final consonant of "second"?
A: Despite the spelling with "d", I say it with /t/: /sEkInt/.
To be honest, I still find it difficult to distinguish between word-final d and word-final t.
jcb wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 9:01 pm
Q: How do people here pronounce the final consonant of "second"?
A: Despite the spelling with "d", I say it with /t/: /sEkInt/.
To be honest, I still find it difficult to distinguish between word-final d and word-final t.
At least in American English, one can listen for the differences between the vowels. /t/ will have a short vowel with a sharply rising tone precede it, and /d/ will have a long vowel with a gently falling tone precede it.
jcb wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 9:01 pm
Q: How do people here pronounce the final consonant of "second"?
A: Despite the spelling with "d", I say it with /t/: /sEkInt/.
To be honest, I still find it difficult to distinguish between word-final d and word-final t.
At least in American English, one can listen for the differences between the vowels. /t/ will have a short vowel with a sharply rising tone precede it, and /d/ will have a long vowel with a gently falling tone precede it.
Interesting, good to know! So tonality is everywhere...
jcb wrote: ↑Thu Feb 26, 2026 3:19 amAt least in American English, one can listen for the differences between the vowels. /t/ will have a short vowel with a sharply rising tone precede it, and /d/ will have a long vowel with a gently falling tone precede it.
Which doesn't help if you pronounce "second" with syllabic "n" :D
jcb wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 8:59 pm
Somewhat relevant is how different Englishes can treat the same phrase differently. For example, take "weekend". In British English, it's still transparently "week + end", but in American English, it's fused into a single word to the point that some people don't even realize what the second morpheme is. Despite this, it's spelt as a single word everywhere.
I always thought of weekend as "week + end" and I'm an American...
jcb wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 9:01 pm
Q: How do people here pronounce the final consonant of "second"?
A: Despite the spelling with "d", I say it with /t/: /sEkInt/.
To be honest, I still find it difficult to distinguish between word-final d and word-final t.
At least in American English, one can listen for the differences between the vowels. /t/ will have a short vowel with a sharply rising tone precede it, and /d/ will have a long vowel with a gently falling tone precede it.
Also, /t/ when not preceded by a fricative is commonly glottalized, and the preceding nasal if not syllabic will be elided leaving the preceding vowel nasalized, whereas /d/ will not be glottalized and the preceding nasal will be preserved as-is.
jcb wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 9:01 pm
Q: Do people here pronounce "orange" with one syllable or two?
A: I have one: /orndZ/
I have /ˈɔrəndʒ/ [ˈɔːʁˤɘ̃ːntʃ] or I will turn the /n/ syllabic with it being its own syllable nucleus as [ˈɔːʁˤn̩ːtʃ] (note that */ˈɔrndʒ/ would be *[ˈɔ̃ːʁ̃ˤntʃ] for me).
jcb wrote: ↑Wed Feb 25, 2026 9:01 pm
Q: How do people here pronounce the final consonant of "second"?
A: Despite the spelling with "d", I say it with /t/: /sEkInt/.
I have /ˈsɛkənd/ [ˈs̟ɜkɘ̃ːnt]~[ˈs̟ɜkn̩ːt] or /ˈsɛkən/ [ˈs̟ɜkɘ̃(ː)n]~[ˈs̟ɜkn̩(ː)]; I can tell the consonant is /d/ and not /t/ because the vowel is long and there is no glottalization.
To be honest, I still find it difficult to distinguish between word-final d and word-final t.
At least in American English, one can listen for the differences between the vowels. /t/ will have a short vowel with a sharply rising tone precede it, and /d/ will have a long vowel with a gently falling tone precede it.
Also, /t/ when not preceded by a fricative is commonly glottalized, and the preceding nasal if not syllabic will be elided leaving the preceding vowel nasalized, whereas /d/ will not be glottalized and the preceding nasal will be preserved as-is.
I agree that /t/ is commonly glottalized at the end of a word, but I think that /d/ is also, at least in my dialect.
What's hard to tell apart are word-final /n/ and /nd/. One can listen for the sandhi if the next word starts with a vowel, but otherwise it can be very hard.
To be honest, I still find it difficult to distinguish between word-final d and word-final t.
At least in American English, one can listen for the differences between the vowels. /t/ will have a short vowel with a sharply rising tone precede it, and /d/ will have a long vowel with a gently falling tone precede it.
Interesting, good to know! So tonality is everywhere...
Yes! I warn you though, if you try to explain English tone to a non-linguist (or god forbid, an English teacher) it'll break their brain and they'll rebuke you.
