this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
568 points (97.0% liked)

Memes

45612 readers
801 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
568
Technically, she's right (programming.dev)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
56 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

For the love of God are you referring to the first or second vowel? People seem to think OP is talking about the second

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I was just shitposting while high. but the real question isn't "why are they pronounced differently?" but "why are they written the same?"

Woman is an ellison of wīfmann

Man is an abbreviation of wermann

"Mann" meaning "human" and wīf/wer meaning "female/male"

No one asks why "man and men" are pronounced differently, and it's likely we'd have "wermann / wermen" pronounced "wur-man" and "wier-men" if we'd kept the distinction.