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Don Weatherwax's avatar

Mr. Graboyes:

I just want to point out two things about those non-English letters, "þ" and "ð". First, they have names: "þ" is called a "thorn", and "ð" is called an "eth". And second, simplifying somewhat for clarity[**], you have their pronunciations switched around. (Trust me: I am an expert on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, and he was passing fond of both letters, particularly eth.) It is the thorn, not the eth, that is pronounced like an UNvoiced "th" (e.g., the "th" in "thin"); and you pronounce the eth, not the thorn, like a VOICED "th" (e.g., the "th" in "this").

[** - The UNsimplified situation is of course more complicated. Old English lacked both of these letters until the early 8th century, and at first they were essentially interchangeable for either pronunciation above. The thorn nearly died out by the 780s; but it came roaring during the reign of Alfred the Great, to the point where it pushed out the eth, which faded away around the time of Middle English. But as the evolution of English continued, the thorn also died out by the time of Early Modern English. (In other words, when sourcing how these letters are pronounced, citing only Old English is problematic.) One current (modern) language has retained both letters: Icelandic, of course, in which they are pronounced as I have described above, with the following exceptions: thorns never appear at the end of a word; eths never appear at the beginning of a word; and eths are "devoiced" (pronounced like thorns) in two situations: when they appear at the end of a word, and when they are followed by a voiceless consonant, like "t" or "k".]

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Peter Legge's avatar

I am much more convinced by SkyNet's arguments against its use by students. ( I tried to ask its opinion but its been very busy.)

By the time I retired three years ago my senior high school law students were writing all their assignments by hand in class. First, because of rampant 'copy and paste'. Second, to avoid the plagiarism program I had employed, the sale of original essays on line. One way for educators to avoid ChatGPT I guess.

I have read recently that the program had written a medical board exam. First time, not so good. Second time, it passed. And it writes code. And despite the issues it has been having with nonsensical errors, it will be much smarter next year.

Butlerian jihad anyone?

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