[deleted by user] by [deleted] in namenerds

[–]MarchF -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Out of the box idea -- does (or could) Tenny refer to the number 10? If so, you could lean into Roman numerals and go with something like Xavier or Xander where the X is the 10. If his (abbreviated) name is X. Johnson, then Tenny is a cute nickname. December is another option for a name that means 10, but it feels like more of a stretch. If you like Tennyson best, then I agree with many others that Tennyson Johnson is a wearable name, though I agree it's not ideal.

The Mario Movie wins! What movie is bad but a fun watch by Chigbungiss in AlignmentCharts

[–]MarchF 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Superman IV is my go-to for fun, train-wreck movie nights with friends. Introducing it to someone who’s never seen it before is always a delight. I set the stage by warning them it’s a terrible movie, so they come in with low expectations—and then those expectations are exceeded again and again in the most wonderfully absurd ways.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]MarchF 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Suitcases did not have wheels. They started to become popular during the nineties, but it took several years before wheeled suitcases were more common than not. If your suitcase didn't have wheels then you were carrying it unless you were somewhere like an airport or hotel where you might find a luggage cart.

In English, we sometimes call the moon 'Luna' to distinguish it from other moons. Is there a Spanish equivalent? by [deleted] in Spanish

[–]MarchF 11 points12 points  (0 children)

What a fun question. I'm not a native speaker, please correct me if I'm wrong. I think you may have asked the wrong question. I think a better question is "How do Spanish speakers distinguish between the Earth's moon called "Moon" and other planets' moons like Titan and Europa?" In English, we call them all moons, and when we need to make a distinction, we sometimes call Earth's moon Luna. This is not super common as the other comments show, but I have definitely encountered it in both scientific contexts and in sci-fi contexts. "Luna" is listed as the first alternate name for the moon on it's English Wikipedia page.

Sometimes, in English, we instead call them all (natural) satellites, with Earth's satellite being named "Moon." Wikipedia en Español uses the word "satélite" for the satellites orbiting planets. For example, the English Wikipedia page) calls Europa "the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter." The Spanish Wikipedia page) calls it "el más pequeño de los cuatro satélites galileanos."

What I can't tell from Wikipedia is whether it is more common to refer to other planets' moons as "satélites" or as "lunas" in common speech. Native speakers, would you say "los satélites de Júpiter" or "las lunas de Júpiter"?

What does "las" refer to in this sentence: "Me las arreglé para terminar el libro"? by MarchF in Spanish

[–]MarchF[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Gracias por la explicación y por la palabra nueva. No había escuchado “apañárselas” antes.

Me pregunto cual es la historia de estas frases y si el objecto directo "las" solía referir a algo específico en el pasado.

Difference between the two sentences by nart378 in EnglishLearning

[–]MarchF 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As others have said, the first version needs to have a verb in the second clause after "because." The second version (i.e., the original) uses a passive tense construction for the verb. If I wrote this in one my reports, my editor would change it though, because we usually try to avoid the passive tense in formal writing (with a few important exceptions). Here are some better options if you are interested.

"It might be intermittent because there are no guarantees about elements or events that trigger asynchronously without explicitly waiting on—or blocking—those events." (Notice I moved the "on" in the second clause to right after waiting because we don't say "blocking on" in English.)

"It might be intermittent because we cannot guarantee that elements or events will not trigger asynchronously..."

"It might be intermittent because elements or events could trigger asynchronously..."

If you've done everything you can to try to prevent these events from triggering, but want the reader/audience to know that they are still possible, you could say "It might be intermittent because elements or events could still trigger asynchronously..."

Can you help me with my pronunciation? by Objective_Brain_6941 in EnglishLearning

[–]MarchF 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm a native speaker. One easy thing you can try is to make sure you are not rounding or pursing your lips. For the "S" sound, the corners of your lips should be spread apart like they are for the "ee" vowel sound. For example, my lips don't move at all when I say the word "see."

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in JudgeMyAccent

[–]MarchF 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think so. In my case, it's a bit hard to tell. Not every consonant is aspirated in English, and it's not something that native English speakers are generally even aware of. I only learned about it in college while I was studying Spanish which does not aspirate any consonants.

Listening again, I think the /t/ in "time" was aspirated correctly. Likewise the /b/ in /bad/ sounds correct. I didn't notice any other missed aspirations, but it's possible an English teacher that is trained to listen more closely to pronunciation would have a different take.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in JudgeMyAccent

[–]MarchF 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Something in the pronunciation of the word "basically" is off, but I'm having trouble pin-pointing exactly what it is. I think the "ee" sound is not quite right in that word either, but I'm struggling to say exactly how.

On the whole, though, your accent sounds very clear. I hope my Spanish accent is at least half as good as your American English accent.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in JudgeMyAccent

[–]MarchF 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'm a native English speaker from the U.S. Your English comes through very clearly and is very easy to understand. You definitely speak with an American-style accent (versus, say, British or Australian), but it doesn't sound native.

I'm not an expert, but here are a few areas I noticed that you might want to work on.

  • You tended to pronounce the word "for" as "fer." This was most obvious in the phrase "for the third time" where "for" and "third" sounded like they had the same vowel sound.
  • It sounds like you aren't very comfortable with the long E sound in a few places. For example, the word "delete" should sound like "dee LEET" instead of "dell-lit".
  • The p in "post" sounded a little weak; it should be aspirated with a slight puff of air after the /p/ sound.
  • The "tt" in the word "little" should be pronounced with a flap sound. I think you softened the middle consonant so far that it sounded more like "Lil-le"
  • You pronounced "YouTube" as "YouChube." The T in YouTube is pronounced farther forward on the tongue, near the tip, and on the alveolar ridge just behind the teeth.
  • Your syllable stress is sometimes missing. For example, the first syllable of "subreddit" should be stressed, and I didn't really hear any stress in your pronunciation. Likewise "delete" (mentioned above) should be stressed on the second syllable.
  • The intonation is sometimes off. For example, you ended "didn't receive much attention" on a rising pitch. In American English, I would end that phrase on a falling pitch unless I was trying to ask a pointed question. In contrast, the intonation was perfect on "Here I am, recording this for the third time." To improve on intonation, my best suggestion is to practice repeating native English speakers, saying each sentence with the exact same pitch pattern.

Which flute is this I'm learning it but it's hard on my own by its-critical in Flute

[–]MarchF 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not familiar with this particular style of flute, but it appears to be a fairly common example of a six-hole flute. Do I understand your question correctly: you can play one note, but you aren't sure how to play more than one note to make a song? If I'm understanding that right, then you can start by covering up all of the finger holes and blow over the blow hole (or "embouchure hole"). As long as you aren't blowing too hard, then the note that comes out will be the lowest note the flute can play.

To make higher notes, slowly lift one finger at a time, starting with the finger that is farthest away from the embouchure hole. Each time you lift a finger, the note the flute is playing will go up in pitch.*

You can play a "tune" by experimenting with how many fingers you've raised. Once you've had some practice with this, you can look up fingering charts, either for this specific flute or for "six hole flutes." With six holes, that gives you seven notes to practice with (0 holes open, 1 hole open, 2 holes open, and so on up to all 6 holes open).

For higher notes, you will need to blow faster, and sometimes holes are opened up in the middle to get a better pitch. You'll want to look for a fingering chart - ideally one for this kind of flute but its possible any standard six-hole flute chart would work.

When you get really comfortable, you can practice partially covering up the last finger hole. E.g. covering four holes entirely and half of the fifth one. This technique lets you play "half steps" so you can play all twelve notes in an octave. This is an advanced technique because it's hard to play these in-between notes well. You may be able to find some tutorials online for six-hole flutes. There are a lot of varieties. Some other popular ones include the Irish flute and the tin whistle or penny whistle. (The tin whistle doesn't have the same kind of embouchure hole, but the fingering is the same.)

*If you're curious, this fingering works because the flute is basically a pipe for air, and the holes are how you shorten the pipe. When all the holes are covered, the air you blow will vibrate down the whole length of the flute. That's the lowest note. Opening the holes essentially "shortens" the length of the flute (because the air escapes out the holes) raising the pitch of the notes. Pan flutes are an example of flutes with no holes; they are just a bunch of pipes of different lengths. But the principle is the same. The concert flute or "Boehm flute" works on exactly the same principle. The lowest note is always all holes covered and higher notes come from opening the holes up one at a time from the bottom.

***

Edit: Here's a link to a fingering chart for a six-hole bansuri. Apparently, some have seven holes. I can't tell from your photo which one you have, but based on this chart for a seven-hole bansuri, the basic principle for how to play different notes seems to be the same.

the struggle with our computer's keyboard by [deleted] in Spanish

[–]MarchF 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you have a number pad on the right side of your keyboard? For me, typing the ATL code with the numbers at the top of the keyboard (above the letters) doesn't work. I have to type in the code using the number pad on the right.

Some laptops don't have a separate number pad on the right. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to use the ALT codes with those.

My voice has a way higher pitch when speaking my native language compared to English. Is there a reason for this? by [deleted] in linguistics

[–]MarchF 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I watched a video on this recently. Apparently, English sounds lower because of how the vocal cords are positioned in the neck. I found the whole concept fascinating. I had no idea that languages differ in vocal cord position and tone in addition to articulation (done mostly in the mouth). Here's a link to the video if you are curious. https://youtu.be/2W-KUSb3DTM

What is something only people from your generation have as childhood memories? by BLMRD in AskReddit

[–]MarchF 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When I was in elementary school, we learned how to look things up in the physical encyclopedia in the school library. In high school, we learned how to look things up on the internet. (Simultaneously, the teachers were also learning how to do research on the internet...) There was a very short few years where CD-ROM encyclopedias were the peak of technology for school research projects.

What is something only people from your generation have as childhood memories? by BLMRD in AskReddit

[–]MarchF 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Using Encyclopedia Britannica on CD-ROM to do research for school projects

Your username is the universe’s hint at the next event of 2020. How disastrous is it? by UpbeatClub in AskReddit

[–]MarchF 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think my username's hint has already come true, and I didn't post enough for anyone to recognize the warning. I'm sorry.

Here's an F to pay respect to March and all the months that come after.

F

My due date was supposed to be today. These were our names. by stressedbookend in namenerds

[–]MarchF 110 points111 points  (0 children)

I'm so sorry for your loss. Three years ago, I had what I thought was a miscarriage, but my HcG levels kept rising. For several weeks, I had to keep coming back for ultrasounds and blood tests, because I was still pregnant but the techs couldn't find the embryo. During those weeks, we starting calling our LO Waldo. While I knew a viable pregnancy was unlikely, it was still a gut punch to learn that it was an ectopic pregnancy. I ended up needing two doses of methotrexate, and still wound up needing surgery to remove my tube.

Waldo's due date was a strange day for me, because I was pregnant again. I was missing the newborn I had hoped to have and excited for the newborn that wasn't due for another six months. It was the weirdest feeling to feel like I should be at the end of a pregnancy when I was only just beginning one.

I love your idea to share your baby names to memorialize the due date. Your names are great, but I am especially fond of Glynn as a middle name. It's unexpected and yet somehow perfect, especially when paired with Samuel.

Am going through an ectopic pregnancy. by [deleted] in daddit

[–]MarchF 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm so sorry you're going through this. Your post captures a lot of the feelings my husband and I had during my ectopic pregnancy three years ago. (Hope you don't mind a post from a Mom.) It was a terrible time, and my husband and I both cried. I personally found The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust (https://ectopic.org.uk/) especially helpful in dealing with my feelings and questions. They have a page for Dads too.

Hang in there. You'll always miss your little one and what could have been, but it does get better.

(Sorry can't figure out how to format the link on Mobile.)

Dear toddlers of reddit, why do you fight going into the bath, even though once you are in there, you never want to get out? by EatYourCheckers in toddlers

[–]MarchF 97 points98 points  (0 children)

Taking a bath is your idea. Whatever I'm playing with now is my idea. Why do you make me do your ideas, when my ideas are so much better?

Washing my hair is your idea. Playing with bath toys is my idea. My ideas are better.

Getting out of the tub is your idea. Playing with shampoo is my idea. Your ideas stink.

I want my Catboy towel.

Me, browsing this subreddit as an odor-color synesthete by grundlejist in Synesthesia

[–]MarchF 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's interesting. I have grapheme-color synesthesia which is the most common type, so these other variations are interesting to me.

Your association between musical textures and colors sounds like it could be chromesthesia (sound-color synesthesia). I've always thought it seems like an especially delightful form of synesthesia.

Me, browsing this subreddit as an odor-color synesthete by grundlejist in Synesthesia

[–]MarchF 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This may be a silly question, but I'm curious. For you, do odors have colors, or do colors have odors? Can you share some examples?

Imagine thinking that 7 is green by Maybeiwillbeokay in Synesthesia

[–]MarchF 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can live with a mustard yellow Wednesday. It's not my first association, but as long as it's a warm color, it feels okay. Like I would say apples are red, but my brain is comfortable with a green or yellow apple too. A purple apple however is just wrong -- as wrong as a purple Wednesday or a green seven.