Civ Letter-Speak Challenge

[tonic]

Just the simplest of rules:

1. Must have some reference to Civ (to keep faith with the forum)
2. Only numbers and the 26 letters of the alphabet to be used
3. Pronunciation can be either British or American English
4. For clarity punctuation and spacing are allowed
4. Approximations should be acceptable eg MURB (say it quickly).

O2EZ, UC.

My Mark I:

ICQ
Y?
ICS

[tonic]

In case there are takers still pondering, here's batch II. Approximations seem essential and a foreign accent helps

1. OL A KMODT GM
2. I F LI N B10 FO
3. KRAVN B4 1DS
4. DLE, NDN KPTL
5. MNRK U KN CLEBR8

[Legman]

Those are too difficult for me to "decifer". Could you add the meaning of them after the letter combinations? Then I could tell if they were funny or perhaps even hilarious.

[tonic]

OK, here are the translations - by reading out the letters usually quickly. I understand that for non-English speaking civers, there is the inherent problem that the letters are not pronounced the same way.

1. OL A KMODT GM: Oil a commodity gem

2. I F LI N B10 FO: I have (approximately from F='ave, the way Cockneys and perhaps the French treat the H as silent) ally and beaten a foe.

3. KRAVN B4 1DS: Caravan (from approximation: Kayaravien) before wonders (from one-di-ass)

4. DLE, NDN KPTL: Delhi ("Dielee"), Indian capital.

5. MNRK U KN CLEBR8: In Monarchy you can celebrate.

BTW is the Danish pronunciation of the letters very different?
[This message has been edited by tonic (edited July 20, 2000).]

[Legman]

Ok, thanks for taking requests like that tonic! Now, I nearly had them all by myself but lacked the last notch to give meaning to the sentences.

Take KRAVN for instance. Even when I went over each letter individually and pronounced it in English, I still couldn't get it to make sense. Now that I know it from your explanation, it seems obvious of course.

The pronounciation of letters in Danish is a little different, but that's not the problem (if you speak English, even non-fluently, you know the English pronounciation). I think it's more a matter of not having a sufficient vocabulary to quickly let your brain scan through the different possibilities that such a letter combination presents. Something like that.

Anyway, those you gave were rather amusing once you expanded to the - For dummies version.

[Hasdrubal]

quote: Originally posted by tonic on 07-20-2000 10:46 PM I understand that for non-English speaking civers, there is the inherent problem that the letters are not pronounced the same way. Caravan (from approximation: Kayaravien)wonders (from one-di-ass) Delhi ("Dielee")

Make that non-ozzy speakers.


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Hasdrubal's Home.
Ceterum censeo Romam esse delendam.

[tonic]

Legman: have you worked out MURB?

Hasdrubal: I would have thought though the risque

ICQ
y?
ICS

would make more sense with the Yanks than the Ozzies.