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AIBU?

To cringe when people use accented letters wrongly? (light-hearted)

60 replies

CaptainBinker · 13/10/2013 22:50

Aargh, this really does my head in!

I have a couple of friends who are lovely people but have obviously been playing around with their keyboards and have noticed umlauts - they are now spelling their babies' names with them... Using an O with umlaut because it looks like a shocked face and a U because it looks smiley Confused

Plus there's others who randomly add acute accents because they think it makes them look more mysterious and sophisticated but haven't got the first idea how to pronounce them. I work as a languages teacher (which probably explains why I'm so annoyed!) and once taught two brothers, one called Shaun and the other called Sean (acute accent on the 'e', can't do it on phone Blush ) and didn't realise they were the same name because apparently if it has an accent it must be a foreign mysterious name!

I know I'm being a ridiculous pedant and there's far bigger problems out there but...Aibu to inwardly cringe to myself?

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CaptainBinker · 13/10/2013 22:51

Oops...I mean the mother of Shaun and Sean didn't realise...

I am obviously way too wound up about this ;)

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Caitlin17 · 13/10/2013 23:09

My real name has a correctly placed è in it which I can do on a phone but not a lap top. IT at work have set it up on my email signature and letters sign off. I'm always touched by how many people when replying to emails make the effort to add it and it's across the board of age and gender of senders. I wouldn't be at all bothered if they didn't use it.

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rachyconks · 13/10/2013 23:20

Control+alt+e = é on the laptop. Not sure about è though

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rachyconks · 13/10/2013 23:23
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breatheslowly · 13/10/2013 23:27

How do you do umlauts?

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elQuintoConyo · 13/10/2013 23:33

But what's wrong with Ö and Ü really? Are they any different to :) or :0 in the grand scheme of things?

Yanbu - if it winds you up, it winds you up. However, in this case imvho yabu. I'd understand if someone had named their dc Ötto or Ürsula - that'd be awful, but as smileys?

And I speak as a language teacher, too Ü

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cashmiriana · 14/10/2013 00:47

The one that has always always made me cross is Zoe with the diacritical mark above the o instead of the e. That makes no sense. Either use it properly or not at all. Thank you.

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BillyBanter · 14/10/2013 01:10

I'm not sure this thréad is as lighthéarted as you claim.

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FannyFifer · 14/10/2013 01:38

Seán is the Irish spelling, it has a fada over the á as that's what gives the long sound.

Both my children have Irish names with fadas as they are needed for correct pronunciation.

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FannyFifer · 14/10/2013 01:41

Just saw she had fada over the è, that makes it sound like Shane so yup different from Shawn.

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FannyFifer · 14/10/2013 01:43

Sean = pronounced "shan" (i.e old)
Séan = pronounced "shane"
Seán = pronounced "shawn"

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sleepywombat · 14/10/2013 01:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CanadianJohn · 14/10/2013 06:03

I refer to my better half as Belovéd (note accent).

Posh, aren't I ?

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CaptainBinker · 14/10/2013 07:34

ElQuinto they didn't use them as smileys at the end of a sentence, they replaced the o and u in their names with o and u with umlauts so that it looked cool. Apparently.

So yes, just like the examples in your second paragraph!

And the problem with Sean and Shaun was that firstly the accent wasn't always put in the right place by poor little Sean so mum told him to miss it off (meaning everyone from then onwards naturally pronounced it as "Shaun") but mum herself pronounced it See-ann.

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hollyisalovelyname · 14/10/2013 09:25

On an iphone hiw do you put an umlut over a letter please?

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TheWomanTheyCallJayne · 14/10/2013 09:28

Cash
My middle name is Zoë. I had an aunt who spelt it Zöe so for years I was always confused as to which it was until I was at a point where I understand what the ë did.

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TheWomanTheyCallJayne · 14/10/2013 09:29

Holly- hold down t he letter and then slide to your choice

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Mandy2003 · 14/10/2013 09:30

Not an accent one but I remembered recently that whe.when I was about 12 I had a friend called "Jewann". At some point I asked him how it was spelled and he said J-U-A-N Grin Obviously his parents had never pronounced it correctly!

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ImThinkingBoutMyDoorbell · 14/10/2013 09:34

CanadianJohn if you were all that posh you'd have noticed that the accent should be pointing the other way... Grin

Belovèd rather than belovéd

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nennypops · 14/10/2013 09:35

Yanbu. I wouldn't be able to read the name without trying to pronounce the words as accented, so I would, for instance, be saying "Toem" (as in Goebbels) and "Oorsoola". And don't the parents realise that their kids will never thank them for it and will ditch the accents as soon as they can?

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complexnumber · 14/10/2013 09:38

naïve

See! Mumsnet auto corrects for me, I would have no idea how to put those double dots over the i.

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StormyBrid · 14/10/2013 09:44

This is indeed cringeworthy. But I find myself even more annoyed when proper official types can't handle accented letters. Opening a bank account for my daughter, the name on the account must be exactly as it appears on the birth certificate. I had to tell the man in the bank how to get an ë, and then the bank's computer couldn't handle it because it was reading the letter as a blank space. Speaking of her birth certificate, I also had to explain to the registrar how to do accented characters. It's not that hard!

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complexnumber · 14/10/2013 09:49

Speaking of her birth certificate, I also had to explain to the registrar how to do accented characters. It's not that hard!

How patronising!

It may not be that hard if you are familiar with how to do it.

But if you are not familiar, then it does take someone to show you. It sounds a shame that this poor person had you to show them.

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PeppiNephrine · 14/10/2013 09:51

Pretty sure the Sean Shaun one is an urban myth. Think about it.

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StormyBrid · 14/10/2013 09:55

I explained it perfectly politely, don't worry. I just find it peculiar that a registrar didn't know. Surely he'd registered babies with accents in their names before?

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