Editing 1562: I in Team

{{comic
| number    = 1562
| date      = August 10, 2015
| title     = I in Team
| image     = i_in_team.png
| titletext = There's no "I" in "VOWELS".
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|explain the meaning of "I in team" }}

{{w|Orthography}} is a set of rules and conventions that dictates how a language should be written. [[Cueball]] is trying to point out to [[Hairy]] that the spelling of a word doesn't relate to its meaning (an instance of the {{w|use–mention distinction}}). He does this by the use of a self-referential joke.

The title text provides another example of the difference between orthography and meaning. In this case the vowel "I" does not appear in the word "vowels".

"There is no 'I' in team" means that when working as a team one cannot think only for oneself or work alone and can be used to reprimand someone on your team who isn't cooperating. Cueball is using the same joke against Hairy by saying there ''is'' a "u" in "People who apparently don't understand the relationship between orthography and meaning". The joke here is that the person who is not cooperating will refer to him/herself as "I" but there is no "I" in team, so they can't only think about themselves. There is a "u" in what Cueball said, implying that Hairy is included in the set of people who mistakingly link orthography and meaning.

==Transcript==
:[Hairy and Cueball stand opposite each other.]
:Hairy: Remeber, there's no "I" in "team".
:Cueball: No, but there's a "U" in "People who apparently don't understand the relationship between orthography and meaning".

{{comic discussion}}
@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-"There's no I in team" is a well-known saying that tries to encourage teamwork. The intention of the phrase is to state that, just as the letter "I" is not present in the word "team", doing things on your own is not constructive when working in groups. It can be used as a light reprimand to a team member who isn't cooperating, with the reminder that when working as a team one cannot think only for oneself, and must work in partnership with the rest of the team towards a common goal.
+{{incomplete|explain the meaning of "I in team" }}
-The phrase "no I in team" dates from the 1960s in the USA with printed references [http://www.knowyourphrase.com/phrase-meanings/Theres-no-I-in-team.html] showing it is familiar to baseball pitchers such as {{w|Vern Law}}. As an aside, it's interesting that it seems to come from baseball, a sport where players have significantly more independence compared to, say, {{w|rugby}}.
+{{w|Orthography}} is a set of rules and conventions that dictates how a language should be written. [[Cueball]] is trying to point out to [[Hairy]] that the spelling of a word doesn't relate to its meaning (an instance of the {{w|use–mention distinction}}). He does this by the use of a self-referential joke.
-Interestingly, the letters M and E can both be found in "team." This suggests that the phrase "There's no I in team" was a slight victim of {{w|cherry picking}}, especially when considering that "there's no me in team" would, strictly speaking, be a bit more grammatical. On a related note, in the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}}, an alphabet designed to spell words from every language in a completely unambiguous and straightforward manner, "team" would be rendered /ti:m/.
+The title text provides another example of the difference between orthography and meaning. In this case the vowel "I" does not appear in the word "vowels".
-Of course, the spelling (or {{w|orthography}}) of a word doesn't relate to its meaning (an instance of the {{w|use–mention distinction}}), and the comic makes fun of this by [[Cueball]] ironically echoing the sentence's sentiments by pointing out there ''is'' a "u" in "People who apparently don't understand the relationship between orthography and meaning", taking advantage that the letter <nowiki><U></nowiki> and the pronoun "you", here referring to [[Hairy]], are pronounced identically.
+"There is no 'I' in team" means that when working as a team one cannot think only for oneself or work alone and can be used to reprimand someone on your team who isn't cooperating. Cueball is using the same joke against Hairy by saying there ''is'' a "u" in "People who apparently don't understand the relationship between orthography and meaning". The joke here is that the person who is not cooperating will refer to him/herself as "I" but there is no "I" in team, so they can't only think about themselves. There is a "u" in what Cueball said, implying that Hairy is included in the set of people who mistakingly link orthography and meaning.
-Of course, it's very likely that Hairy knows that orthography doesn't determine meaning, and could easily reply "There's also a 'u' in 'People who assume {{w|aphorisms}} are literal'".
-The title text "There's no 'I' in 'VOWELS'." provides another illustration of the distinction between orthography and meaning. "A", "I" and "U" are vowels, notwithstanding the irrelevant fact that they are not included in the spelling of "VOWELS".
-Orthography was the subject of [[1069: Alphabet]].
 ==Transcript==
 :[Hairy and Cueball stand opposite each other.]
-:Hairy: Remember, there's no "I" in "team".
+:Hairy: Remeber, there's no "I" in "team".
 :Cueball: No, but there's a "U" in "People who apparently don't understand the relationship between orthography and meaning".
 {{comic discussion}}
-[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
-[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
-[[Category:Language]]