Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for September 21, 2012

Hehehe… Neat. I can certainly see shades of O&M here. Loving it!

“i-t” and “m-y n-a-m-e”.

He’s not ready yet Phoebe.

…………………………“Phoebe? Is this Phoebe?What! little Phoebe? [aside] Who the deuce may /she/ be?It can’t be Phoebe, surely.”

(It took me half a century to noticeThat Gilbert wrote the passage in blank verse,But I was very young when first I read it,And Sullivan set it sans pentameter.)

Is this teasing, flirting, or vanity?

There’s also “fane,” but it’s rare enough for a red squiggle.

Say my name, say my name…

Me estas poniendo nervioso! I just learned ’you’re making me nervous’ in spanish.

I hope that they don’t teach just Phonics in that class or he might have a problem. (I knew a kid who was homeschooled using only Phonics until fifth grade and he thought that it was spelled “Feebee”. In fact, his English comprehension and spelling abilities were pretty poor. [His parents were fringe religious types who didn’t want him “corrupted” by public school, but they simply weren’t qualified to teach him. The School Board finally had to get a court order to get him into school.] After he started using a mix of “Whole Language” technique and Phonics he did just fine.)

What’s feign?

To fake a move in fencing is to “feint.” “Feign” is to pretend or give a false appearance, as in feigning ignorance. Making it more complex, a feint is a feigned move.

Φοίβη is Phoibe—η is eta, not nu; ν is nu. The “ph” is actually a literal “p“ + “h”, but that can be confusing because that’s the normal way English pronounces “p” anyway. π was pronounced without the “h”, which is how English pronounces “p” after an “s”. Say “spear” and “peer” and note the difference. But in later Greek, ϕ came to be pronounced like an “f”, and that’s how English pronounces “ph” today. (Ancient Greek is not the only language that counts “p” and “p+h” as two different sounds; Chinese does, for one.)