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INTROThis account explains @behsss’s jokes for second-language learners and everyone else who doesn’t get them fully. See below for...
•Posting schedule
•Symbol usage
•Joke types
•IPA pronunciation
POSTING SCHEDULEExplanations of past jokes seen on Timehop will be posted in the mornings, if any. Throughout the rest of the day, if new jokes are made on @behsss, explanations will be posted here ASAP.
SYMBOL USAGEAll pronunciations are typically written in IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). When this happens, they are enclosed in square brackets [ ]. Spellings, or strings of letters in a written word, are written in obtuse angle brackets ⟨ ⟩.
JOKE TYPESThis thread will cover the following types of jokes:
•Agentive joke
•Numeric augmentation
•Syllabic continuation
•Parsing error
•Singularization
•Agentive joke: this is where the construction “X Y+[ɚ]” is parsed as “someone who Xes Ys”, where Y is optional. [ɚ] is commonly spelled as ⟨er⟩ in real English agentive constructions, like “bridge builder”, “pencil sharpener”, and so on.
Unlike these valid English agentive constructions, the agentive joke parses non-agentive constructions in an agentive manner. “Adam Driver” becomes “someone who drives Adams”, even though Adam Driver is someone’s name.
•Numeric augmentation: also dubbed “inflationary language” by Victor Borge. Every string that is pronounced the same way as a number is treated as that number, then increased by 1. “Wonderful” is now “2derful”, “before” is now “be5”, and so on. The new number can be spelled out.
•Syllabic continuation: a pronunciation-based joke where the last syllable of Word One has the same pronunciation and stress quality as the first syllable of Word Two. Both words are joined so they share this syllable. Primary and secondary stresses are treated the same way.
For example: “albuterol” [æl̴ˈbjuɾɚˌɑl̴] and “albatross” [ˈɑl̴bəˌʧɹɑs]. Albuterol ends with the stressed [ɑl̴], and albatross begins with the stressed [ɑl̴], so they can form the syllabic continuation “albuteralbatross” [æl̴ˌbjuɾɚˈɑl̴bəˌʧɹɑs].
•Parsing error: an intentional error in how a word is split up or pronounced. For example: “McElroy”, the name, is usually pronounced [mə~ɪkˈɛl̴ˌɹɔ͡ɪ], but parsing the syllable boundary after ⟨m⟩ rather than after ⟨c⟩ could humorously yield “M Celroy” [ɛ̃m ˈsɛl̴ɹɔ͡ɪ].
•Singularization: also known as a “just one” joke. In English, plurals are usually made by adding ⟨s⟩ or ⟨es⟩ to the end of a word. (Changing -⟨us⟩ to -⟨i⟩ also works for some words.) However, there are words that end in ⟨s⟩ or ⟨es⟩ that aren’t plurals.
“Calculus” is a singular noun ending in ⟨s⟩. “Just one calculu” is the singularization. The nonsense of making an already singular word singular is at the core of a singularization joke. To go the extra mile, a perfect singularization joke matches English phonotactics like so:
A simple pluralization using ⟨s⟩ or ⟨es⟩ is voiceless, as in [s], when the root ends in a voiceless consonant. Duck [dʌk] ends in [k], which is voiceless, so the plural is [dʌks]. When the root ends in a vowel or voiced consonant, the pluralization is voiced, as in [z].
Bag [bæg] ends in [g], which is voiced, so the plural is [bægz]. Thus, an example of a perfect singularization joke is “just one physic”, as the last non-[s] or -[z] consonant in “physics” [ˈfɪzɪks] is [k], which is voiceless.
IPA PRONUNCIATIONThe International Phonetic Alphabet is supposed to have a 1-to-1 correlation between form (the glyphs used in the alphabet) and pronunciation. This isn’t ALWAYS the case, however.
IPA is often used in a way that assumes the audience is familiar with the language in question. For example, the vowel in “bee” in English is usually represented as /i/, but in reality, many English speakers typically say [ɪ͜i]. This distinction usually doesn’t matter.
It does explain, though, why the English /i/ sounds different from the Spanish /i/, which is truly [i]. On this account, explanations will always use the most narrow transcription possible, except in these cases where the difference truly doesn’t matter.
That being said, here are a few resources to help you become familiar with IPA and learn to read it. Firstly, whenever IPA is used on this account, it should be used in a way that would allow someone unfamiliar with it to at least have an idea of how it’s pronounced.
RESOURCE 1: Wikipedia’s Help:IPA/English page. This tells you what symbols are used for English with word examples. These Help:IPA pages exist for other languages too. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English
RESOURCE 2: here’s a chart that has just about all the consonants used in Standard American English. Consonants have a place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voice quality. The places, from left to right, go progressively further into the vocal tract.
Personally, I wouldn’t call [ɹ] retroflex, just an approximant. [w] and [ʍ] are also approximants, they just have two places of articulation: bilabial AND velar. [ʍ] isn’t used all that much anymore in Standard American English, I don’t think.
RESOURCE 3: Wikipedia’s IPA pulmonic consonant chart with audio. Here’s how you pronounce all of the consonants in the previous resource. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA_pulmonic_consonant_chart_with_audio
RESOURCE 4: here’s the IPA vowel chart. I couldn’t find a satisfactory one that’s just for English, but English uses so many goddamn vowels and there are so many dialectical differences anyways that this is better than any tailored chart.
Vowels have a backness, a height, and a roundness quality. Fun fact: the chart is roughly in the shape of the human tongue (facing to the left) when it articulates each of these vowels.
RESOURCE 5: Wikipedia’s IPA vowel chart with audio. This is indispensible. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA_vowel_chart_with_audio
RESOURCE 6: Wiktionary. This Wikimedia dictionary uses IPA for its pronunciations, if the entry has a pronunciation, so it’s very useful to confirm that you have the right idea. However, it often uses an East Coast dialect of English. http://wiktionary.org
RESOURCE 7: the r12a IPA picker. This is what I use to make IPA when I’m not using the replace text feature on my phone. It tells you what the symbol is called when you mouse over, which you can use to learn more about it on Wikipedia or Google. https://r12a.github.io/pickers/ipa/
RESOURCE 8: Wikipedia’s search bar can be used for the full name of an IPA symbol to read more about its usage and hear its pronunciation. For consonants, it’s [voice quality][place of articulation][manner of articulation]. For vowels, it’s [height][backness][roundness].
