Difference between revisions of "1069: Alphabet"
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Do I get to remove letters entirely? Or just rearrange them? Because the 'k/c' situation is ridiculous. Look, we can make out whenever. This is *immortality*! | Do I get to remove letters entirely? Or just rearrange them? Because the 'k/c' situation is ridiculous. Look, we can make out whenever. This is *immortality*! | ||
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This comic is a joke on the traditional pick-up line that goes something like this: "Baby, if I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put 'U' and 'I' together." Terrible, I know. | This comic is a joke on the traditional pick-up line that goes something like this: "Baby, if I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put 'U' and 'I' together." Terrible, I know. | ||
Revision as of 00:31, 9 August 2012
Image Text
Do I get to remove letters entirely? Or just rearrange them? Because the 'k/c' situation is ridiculous. Look, we can make out whenever. This is *immortality*!
Explanation
This comic is a joke on the traditional pick-up line that goes something like this: "Baby, if I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put 'U' and 'I' together." Terrible, I know.
However, in typical XKCD fashion, rather than continue with that tired pickup line, Cueball jumps at his change to rearrange the alphabet and fix the English orthography. An orthography is a standardized system for using a particular writing system (script) to write a particular language. It includes rules of spelling, and may also concern other elements of the written language such as punctuation and capitalization.
The joke is that hooking up with this girl can wait because rearranging the alphabet and changing the English language is the chance of a lifetime, and would make history.
"The 'k/c' situation" refers to the use of the letter 'C', which doesn't have a unique sound; it sounds either like a 'K' or an 'S'. The only exception is when it is combined with 'H', as in 'chair'. A possible change Cueball might make is to replace 'C' with a letter that exclusively sounds like 'CH'.
