h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: How to pronounce Icelandic - A2141812
Author: Gnomon - U151503

A straightforward reference to Icelandic pronunciation.

Cracking entry Gnomon . I must admit guessing when it came to reading placenames in Desmond Bagley's Running Blind. I wonder if the Manx mountain should be pronounced as in Icelandic?

typo: most letters are pronounced indivually - missing your 'id' (good for my ego to offer a correction )

Pimms
(so do you speak a bit of Icelandic, correspond with an Icelander (such as Ismarah with whom you wrote the Iceland entry) or possess a handy phrasebook?)

Thanks, Pimms. I put in Snæfell specially for you!

I learnt how to pronounce Icelandic on a trip to Iceland many years ago from our tour guide, Cathy Harlow. I see she is writing books about Iceland now.

Okay, here's why I didn't look at this before.

It's the title really. It reads like the entry will take you through how to pronounce the word 'Icelandic'. Clearly, had I known you wrote it, I would have been so judgemental over the title.

Maybe if it was called something like 'A Guide to Icelandic Pronounciation' or something.


Geggs

That didn't stop people looking at my 'How to pronounce Italian' entry. Maybe people wondered if it was "it-alian" or "eye-talian".

I was gonna stop by and say the title needs changing, but someone else already did that

OK, by popular demand I've changed the title, although I couldn't see anything wrong with it myself. Isn't this Peer Review great?

Excellent entry Guys

I reykon ðis is a pretty good entry

Do you need the conclusion though?

You're right, Jodan. The conclusion was a waste of space. I've replaced it with a Further Reading on Iceland section with links to other h2g2 Edited Entries.

It's always hard to write stuff about pronunciation, but I like this entry.

Can the o with umlaut (two dots on top) sometimes be written without the umlaut, but using another letter? This happens in German, where an E can go after a vowel if an umlaut is not available (in email addresses for example). Does this happen at all in Icelandic?

Niwt

Niwt, I don't know whether o umlaut can be written oe as in German. I suspect it can't.

I wonder what they do when no dots are available then. Maybe they just leave it.

You're right. They just leave it. For example, the Manntöl section of the Íslendingabók is at http://www.islendingabok.is/IServlets/Manntol.jsp. The accents have all been omitted in the URL.

The very model of a snappy Guide Entry.

Just a gripelet: some people might know the word pâté better than the word pate, and get confused, poor dears. Would "page", "pale", "pane" or "paper" do better if you want to stick to p-words?

Quite right! I've changed 'pate' to 'pale'.

I remember Fozzie Bear saying "Verily I did strike him on the paté".

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Well Done Gnomon

Pimms

Thanks!

and thank you, whoever picked this.