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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)

#71
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

For me they always seem to be sorted by vote count. Nevertheless, here is the link: https://english.stackexchange.com/a/396697

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

#72
post #55

It’s questions like these that made StackExchange worth visiting and browsing. When they decided to be super strict about being on topic it made the quality of the sites go downhill a lot. Now there is much less reason for experts to hang out on the sites and while there provide answers to new questions.

I'll note though that it is locked. Anytime I find something super interesting in a SE forum, it has been declared off-topic.

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

#73
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Worm in Swedish is "mask". "Mark" means "ground".

Thank you. I changed it now

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

#77
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 feel like this video about the Casio VL-1 demo melody has a similar vibe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZCwrdseXKI The fact that people do this much research/investigation to find answers to questions like this is pretty cool.

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

#78

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…

Personally, I can't see the answer being "yellow", as this is all about nouns and tangible objects (like things and animals). Having said that, I enjoyed how the case was built on the faded outline, while this entire spot of the ball shows faded black print, as may be observed by the outlines of the infamous "Y". (I'd rather opt for the "yxa" approach, probably the route taken by someone just browsing image search fo…

I didn't even notice the difference in printing quality on that part of the ball, I just assumed it was part of the normal variation for such things and didn't think it had any meaning beyond that.

However that being said I think the analysis in the original article is probably as valid and likely more so than mine; I was having fun trying to bullshit-lawyer what was clearly the consequence of a hasty mistake into the work of over-thought intent.

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

#79
post #66

A wonderful example of the human propensity to "hallucinate" meaning starting from a random connection (there's an undoin uncommon specific word for that - also noticeable in children and psych). There is a smoking gun in one of the later comments: https://i.stack.imgur.com/bDRX5m.jpg

What about that image is a smoking gun?

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

#80
post #42
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…

U-boat nowadays is used almost exclusively for WW2 era German submarines
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