∅ (empty set)
this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2025
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How it feels to be autistic navigating social rules.
Ø - The Norwegian umlaut version of O.
⌀ U+2300 DIAMETER SIGN
Actually æ, ø, and å are regarded as separate letters in the Norwegian alphabet
Æ - like the a in cat
Ø - like the u in turn
Å- like the aw in paw
Here's a handy song about it
Translation to a language that has reasonable pronunciation (romanian):
Æ = a
Ø = ă
Å = ~~â~~
French has à, â, é, è, ê, ë, ï, ô, œ, but we don't count them as extra letters. We should!
I can see the first 8 being counted as just "letter with an accent", but what about the last one? How can that not be its own letter? It's a whole new symbol not found in the "base" alphabet ffs. You should definitely count at least that one - because size matters
Which language is the best: Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, or Danish?
Danish. Swedish and Norwegian are just failed attempts at speaking Danish, proving once and for all that Norwegians have better language skills since their attempts are closer.*
Finnish is mainly good for swearing away bears and complaining about a lack of saunas.
*(Jk, in case there's any doubt)
OMG I feel sorry for that poor bear...
Best for what purpose? Norwegian is best for understanding Swedish and Danish (Swedes have more difficulty understanding Danish than Norwegians do) Swedish and Norwegian are essentially a dialectical continuum.
Oslo dialect is heavily influenced by danish because back in the day if Norwegians wanted a decent education they went to Denmark. The more commonly used written form of Norwegian (bokmål) is still very similar to Danish (only as it's written though, danish pronunciation is fucked up). The other form (nynorsk) was created from several rural dialects as part of a nationalism movement and more closely resembles Swedish (not in terms of spelling but pronunciation) it's not as close as bokmål is to Danish though.
Finnish is a completely different language family but is very similar to kven which is spoken by very few people on the Northern coast of Norway. It's a nice sounding language though and a good way to sound like you're going to stab someone.
The correct language is the one that is spoken in the country you're most interested in. I live in Norway so for my purposes Norwegian is obviously best. And I don't need to revert to speaking English in Sweden or (most of) Denmark, which is nice.
If I had to learn a second north European language, I'd choose either northern Sami, Faroese, Icelandic, or Greenlandic.
Was going to say if you speak Norwegian you can converse and read in Denmark and it's seamless.
Nynorsk is interesting. Dialects are hard.
They only teach bokmål in the language courses for foreigners, even if you live in a nynorsk area. Until relatively recently school children were expected to learn both and if you were expected to reply to letters/emails in the same language as they were written in. That doesn't happen as much now.
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Finnish, though I may be biased. We have the best curses (English swear words are soo boring and really don't have the same power.) and it's so easy to just make up bew words.
Danish is Swedish without opening your mouth and if it's half open, you get Norwegian
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Øh nø
You mean like the German Ö?
This is why, as a Norwegian programmer, I slash my 0s with a backlash and my Øs with a forward slash.
Oh eh... Kunne du bruke det ikke i navnet ditt eller?
We should use dashed letter O to distinguish it from the Norwegian umlaut
Just use a proper typeface.
0k
We also use that to designate phasing in the electrical world.
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θØΦ⦰θ
Ahhh ahhhh ahhhhhhhhh I hate it
Whyyyy does humanity do this to itself
Sø I shøuld slash all my Øs sø they can be distinguished from 0. Gøt it.
Including the majestic møøse
The slashed zero is the empty set, and the slashed O is literally nothing cause screw the slashed O
All my guys love the Ø! We Even have the Ååhh. Jut let me know if that makes you Æææh!
I was hoping it was gonna be that video! One of the few times I will agree that size matters.
Empty set is ∅, slashed zero is 0︀ (if your browser decides to render the unicode variant) or 0︀ in html
Learn the difference, it could save your life!
(It could not actually save your life)
My genuine reaction to that information:
∅, with a slash through it!!!
Dad was a programmer on IBM 700/7000 series. He always slashed the letter O. Years later in programming people were slashing zeroes and I was mighty confused. Some greybeard explained it eventually.
Years later in programming people were slashing zeroes and I was mighty confused. Some greybeard explained it eventually.
As someone who slashes their zeroes, ouch.
Well it was someone else who spent most of their career with FØRTRAN punchcards. By the time I was learning BASIC in the 1980s it had moved to the zero.
/0
edit: what was that meant to do
disambigruleation
When your language and numerical project managers don't talk to each other
Not the empty set?
"The slash as a designator! Why that is brilliant..." - Dr.Klein
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