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Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

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Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#41

Post by thrnfnfnrrn »

frostburg wrote: post #28
ChainOfFools wrote: post #21

Y for yellow, given that's the color of the handle and that you need something to be representative of the color. Even having a yellow square could confuse it with S for square, or having a banana can confuse it with B for banana. Similar problems exist with S for Sun, C for (a yellow) crayon etc. Also the handle is what has been drawn superimposed over the letter. Still, confusion with A for axe isnt any better than…

A bucket of yellow paint would be a likely choice if that were the case.

A bucket of yellow paint would be "B"

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#42

Post by jonex »

nomilk wrote: post #17

The most upvoted answer gives the explanation the ball manufacturer is Swedish ('axe' in Swedish starts with a 'y'), but other answers say it was probably manufactured in a country where English wasn't the first language (e.g. China) and the 'y' for axe was simply a typo. The evidence against the Swedish explanation is that the ball says c for 'cat' and d for 'dog', but in swedish the translations are 'katt' and 'hun…

It's clearly not properly designed to be for swedish, this is noted in the reply, apart from some letters being off, it lacks åäö. But it's still not clear why they would use "u-boat" for u. While apparently correct english (never heard it), it being Swedish ubåt seems higher likelihood to me.

I'm wondering if they might have combined mixed two designs, as a lot of the letters works in both. Maybe they looked at two pictures and didn't realise one was for another language? It seems possible to me that they'd design the ball based on product pictures, and those are often not showing all angles of a product.

Don't think it's easy to say one answer or

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#43

Post by lolinder »

primitivesuave wrote: post #38
WJW wrote: post #12

First comment on the answer: > This is quite the most extraordinary stack exchange answer that I've ever seen. And I couldn't agree more. Well worth perusing if you (like me) usually only check the comments on HN.

I wholeheartedly agree as well. The only nitpick I'd have on this incredible dissertation is on the "U" association with "U-boat" - this is an anglicized form of the German word "Unterseeboot" (undersea boat) which was itself shortened to "U-boot" (presumably the etymology of the Swedish "ubåt"). The first known use of the term "U-boat" is 1914, while the Germans and Swedish armed forces were commissioning submarines…

It looks like it could also be an anglicized version of the modern Swedish word for submarine, which appears to be Ubåt [0]. In the US we definitely usually associate the word U-boat with the Germans, but I'm not sure how else one would anglicize Ubåt.

[0] https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ub%C3%A5t

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#44

Post by throwaway_673 »

nomilk wrote: post #17

The most upvoted answer gives the explanation the ball manufacturer is Swedish ('axe' in Swedish starts with a 'y'), but other answers say it was probably manufactured in a country where English wasn't the first language (e.g. China) and the 'y' for axe was simply a typo. The evidence against the Swedish explanation is that the ball says c for 'cat' and d for 'dog', but in swedish the translations are 'katt' and 'hun…

Is there also a Swedish version of the ball? In that case I have a possible explanation.

When the ball was copied, they may have worked from images. You need more than one image because the ball is round.

Could the copycat have used an English version for one of the sides, and Swedish for the other? By looking at the images and letters around the Y, they actually make more sense in Swedish

The poster may have made a mistake by interpreting the "W" for "worm". If the Swedish theory is right, it is actually an "M" as worm is translated to "mask" in Swedish. They also seem unaware that a picature of the nail can also be translated as "nagel".

E - Elefant

N - Nagel

M - Mask / Metmask

K - Känguru

To me it looks like that side fits the Swedish words perfectly. The "Q" (queen) is copied from a different picture that comes from the English version

Edit: One of the comments on Stack exchange seems to suggest the same theory. The symbols seem to be a mix of at least two different sources.

Edit 2: Corrected the translation of worm

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#45

Post by ars »

dishsoap wrote: post #29
sesm wrote: post #14

This is most likely the correct answer: https://english.stackexchange.com/a/396624

Maybe you missed the answer above it?

I believe StackOverflow randomizes the order of answers, you should link or otherwise reference the one you mean, rather then specify its position.

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#46

Post by Jun8 »

WJW wrote: post #12

First comment on the answer: > This is quite the most extraordinary stack exchange answer that I've ever seen. And I couldn't agree more. Well worth perusing if you (like me) usually only check the comments on HN.

No, although this answer is awesome and very well researched, it cannot match the famous answer to the question about parsing HTML using regular expressions :-) : https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/regex-match-open....

BTW, I got curious about the highest scored answer and this meta answer explains how to find it: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/a/266570. The highest scored answer is this one: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11227809/why-is-processi... (of course this is related to teh size of the community)

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#47

Post by silisili »

mmastrac wrote: post #37

Wasn't yew wood used for wooden handles in the past? It kind of looks like a yew-handled axe. Surprised that nobody mentioned that option. Fun fact: Ötzi the iceman had a staff and axe made of yew -- https://www.iceman.it/en/equipment/

> It kind of looks like a yew-handled axe

OK, I'll ask: What is it about this rather poorly drawn axe makes it look like it's yew handled?

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#48

Post by qiqitori »

WJW wrote: post #12

First comment on the answer: > This is quite the most extraordinary stack exchange answer that I've ever seen. And I couldn't agree more. Well worth perusing if you (like me) usually only check the comments on HN.

Here's another question with an answer that blew my mind just the other day; not nearly as long though: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/283546/does-hagrid...

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#49

Post by tialaramex »

primitivesuave wrote: post #38
WJW wrote: post #12

First comment on the answer: > This is quite the most extraordinary stack exchange answer that I've ever seen. And I couldn't agree more. Well worth perusing if you (like me) usually only check the comments on HN.

I wholeheartedly agree as well. The only nitpick I'd have on this incredible dissertation is on the "U" association with "U-boat" - this is an anglicized form of the German word "Unterseeboot" (undersea boat) which was itself shortened to "U-boot" (presumably the etymology of the Swedish "ubåt"). The first known use of the term "U-boat" is 1914, while the Germans and Swedish armed forces were commissioning submarines…

I assume the author knows why they're called U-boats, but the fact is that modern English speakers don't call them U-boats unless they mean very specifically German World War II submarines and maybe not then.

I would use "U-Boat" but only in the same way I'd use "Boomer", to indicate a specific type of vessel in a particular context, if I meant a submarine, such as in a simple drawing, I'd say "submarine" and so would other English speakers I know.

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#50

Post by primitivesuave »

lolinder wrote: post #43
primitivesuave wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wholeheartedly agree as well. The only nitpick I'd have on this incredible dissertation is on the "U" association with "U-boat" - this is an anglicized form of the German word "Unterseeboot" (undersea boat) which was itself shortened to "U-boot" (presumably the etymology of the Swedish "ubåt"). The first known use of the term "U-boat" is 1914, while the Germans and Swedish armed forces were commissioning submarines…

It looks like it could also be an anglicized version of the modern Swedish word for submarine, which appears to be Ubåt [0]. In the US we definitely usually associate the word U-boat with the Germans, but I'm not sure how else one would anglicize Ubåt. [0] https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ub%C3%A5t

The primary sources are hard to find on this, but the common year of first usage in English (1914) seems to coincide with the first sinking of a ship by a German submarine-launched torpedo [1].

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pathfinder_(1904)

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