Stephen the Great Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 (edited) This is probably just me making much ado about nothing, but the word feh in "Feh Channel" - an actual word in English, derived from Yiddish - is not the best word to use. Spoiler Google definition of feh In addition, Neal Karlen states in his book The Story of Yiddish that feh carries seventeen different meanings, of which only one is positive: "Feh! I salute you!" What do you make of this? Edited November 19, 2017 by Sigismund of Luxemburg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRay Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 They probably did not think it is a big deal since few players would look up what feh means or even care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magical Glace Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 Feh = Fire Emblem Heroes The obvious intended meaning is simply an acronym, don't think about it too hard dude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Branniglenn Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 Even if people had heard such definitions for the word, feh in this context is a name. Geez, people will find any reason to hate Feh. And people say I'm a monster for wanting to pluck her feathers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirmola Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 in my experience (which involves a lot of Yiddish speakers, and american jews who use many more Yiddish loan words than normal) "feh" is a less comonly used word, especialy nowadays. Despite my better than usual Yiddish vocabulary, I did not even think of the word when thinking about the owl until you brought it up (although i had heard it once or twice). The fact is, Yiddish is unfortunately dying out among everyone but chasidic jews, who only use it because they are explicitly avoiding modern culture, including video games. In a context like this, where the intended meaning is blatently obvious, people just accept it and move on. It is only then the derivation of the word is not obvious that people dig up unintended meanings like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen the Great Posted November 19, 2017 Author Share Posted November 19, 2017 1 hour ago, sirmola said: in my experience (which involves a lot of Yiddish speakers, and american jews who use many more Yiddish loan words than normal) "feh" is a less comonly used word, especialy nowadays. Despite my better than usual Yiddish vocabulary, I did not even think of the word when thinking about the owl until you brought it up (although i had heard it once or twice). The fact is, Yiddish is unfortunately dying out among everyone but chasidic jews, who only use it because they are explicitly avoiding modern culture, including video games. In a context like this, where the intended meaning is blatently obvious, people just accept it and move on. It is only then the derivation of the word is not obvious that people dig up unintended meanings like this. ... hence why I said, "This is probably me just making much ado about nothing." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Dragon Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 "Feh" is an interjection, and an obscure one at that. As far as I can tell, it has the same meaning as the more common "pft" or "tch". If you make fun of Feh's name again, she'll stop bringing you your daily login rewards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaid Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 (edited) I enjoy language learning and this sort of insight is pretty interesting. But yes, putting thought into it beyond an acronym for the game's name is overthinking it. Don't bully the bird Edited November 19, 2017 by Alkaid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulWeaver Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 2 hours ago, Ice Dragon said: If you make fun of Feh's name again, she'll stop bringing you your daily login rewards. But she can't pronounce it right! How am I supposed to treat her like an actual character if she insists on pronouncing 'Feh' as if it were 'Faye'?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Dragon Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 9 minutes ago, SoulWeaver said: But she can't pronounce it right! How am I supposed to treat her like an actual character if she insists on pronouncing 'Feh' as if it were 'Faye'?! The English voice grates my ears so much that I don't actually hear any of what she says so I would not know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaximillian Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 23 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said: The English voice grates my ears so much that I don't actually hear any of what she says so I would not know. Moving over to the English voice after the first Japanese-only stream was… refreshing. Not as cute, and she lost her onomatopoeia for flapping wings. What a localisation blunder. Too bad I don’t know a thing in Japanese, even though it sounds charming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragoncat Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 This is interesting, but I'm sure the name is an acronym. Fire Emblem Heroes Also it could be a lot worse, it could mean, like, "shit" or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ae†her Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 (edited) F E H For Ever Hitler I'm kidding lol Edited November 20, 2017 by Logos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bottlegnomes Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 6 hours ago, Glennstavos said: Even if people had heard such definitions for the word, feh in this context is a name. Geez, people will find any reason to hate Feh. And people say I'm a monster for wanting to pluck her feathers. Her feh-thers? 2 hours ago, SoulWeaver said: But she can't pronounce it right! How am I supposed to treat her like an actual character if she insists on pronouncing 'Feh' as if it were 'Faye'?! To be fair, eh can be pronounced "aye," so feh could be faye. Anyway, on topic, I did not know feh was Yiddish, but I had heard the term before, and did think it was a little humorous that this obscenely cutesy owl had a name that happened to also be what's essentially a disapproving grunt. I'd like to think that someone at the localization office realized that and either didn't care or thought it was funny and approved the name anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Dragon Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 (edited) On an only vaguely related note, "Feh Channel" in Japanese is written strangely with "channel" in hiragana instead of katakana as "フェーちゃんねる" (instead of "フェーチャンネル"), which begs for it to instead be read as "Feh-chan neru", or "Feh-chan sleeps". Edited November 20, 2017 by Ice Dragon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaximillian Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 13 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said: "Feh-chan sleeps". …and that’s what she does when the stream concludes. Sneaky. Puns are best when subtle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen the Great Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share Posted November 20, 2017 (edited) 8 hours ago, Ice Dragon said: If you make fun of Feh's name again, she'll stop bringing you your daily login rewards. To quote Rastapopoulos: Wait, why's Feh a girl to begin with? 10 hours ago, Glennstavos said: Geez, people will find any reason to hate Feh. And people say I'm a monster for wanting to pluck her feathers. I already disliked her before I knew what I knew about the name. To be honest, her name sounds ridiculous even without the Yiddish meaning. Wait... ... did you just call me (worse than or equal to) a monster? @Glennstavos, you have attacked my honour. I throw down the gauntlet! 5 hours ago, Ice Dragon said: The English voice grates my ears so much that I don't actually hear any of what she says so I would not know. Hear, hear! 3 hours ago, bottlegnomes said: To be fair, eh can be pronounced "aye," so feh could be faye. 2 Not in this context. The pronunciation of feh is clear. Besides, to our understanding, there are no Canadian influences in Askr. Edited November 20, 2017 by Sigismund of Luxemburg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bottlegnomes Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 (edited) 18 minutes ago, Sigismund of Luxemburg said: Not in this context. The pronunciation of feh is clear. Besides, to our understanding, there are no Canadian influences in Askr. This just feels like you're being pedantic. It's a name; names are pronounced how the people who have them say they are. They're spelled, like all words, as an approximation of how people think they sound based on rules of language. Feh as faye is perfectly reasonable based on f + eh (aye), which isn't just a Canadian thing. Insisting that Feh is pronouncing her name wrong is akin to saying people whose last name is spelled Dougherty and pronounced Dockerty are saying their names wrong. Or for a comedic example, Birbiglia as Bur-big-lee-ah vs. Ber-beel-ee-ah. Sorry for the mini-rant. It's just that people insisting on "rules" of grammar/spelling is a pet peeve. Spelling and grammar don't define language; they serve to try to explain it. They're guidelines, not gospel. Edited November 20, 2017 by bottlegnomes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Dragon Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Sigismund of Luxemburg said: Wait, why's Feh a girl to begin with? The first-person pronoun watakushi is only used by females and butlers. EDIT: 3 minutes ago, bottlegnomes said: It's just that people insisting on rules of grammar/spelling is a pet peeve. Grammar is the relationship of words to words around them, and spelling is how words are rendered in writing. You're looking for "pronunciation", which is how words are converted into sound. Edited November 20, 2017 by Ice Dragon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen the Great Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share Posted November 20, 2017 6 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said: The first-person pronoun watakushi is only used by females and butlers. Could Feh not be a male butler then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Dragon Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 2 minutes ago, Sigismund of Luxemburg said: Could Feh not be a male butler then? I have yet to see Feh offer to serve me tea. All she has so far done is sit around on the mailbox and laze in front of the heater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bottlegnomes Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 8 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said: Grammar is the relationship of words to words around them, and spelling is how words are rendered in writing. You're looking for "pronunciation", which is how words are converted into sound. I'm discussing how the bird's name is rendered in writing. I'm saying Feh is a perfectly reasonable rendering of the sound of the bird's name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Dragon Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 2 minutes ago, bottlegnomes said: I'm discussing how the bird's name is rendered in writing. I'm saying Feh is a perfectly reasonable rendering of the sound of the bird's name. Being pedantic here, but you were very much saying that "fay" is a reasonable pronunciation of "Feh" and not that "Feh" is a reasonable spelling for the pronunciation "fay": 21 minutes ago, bottlegnomes said: Feh as faye is perfectly reasonable based on f + eh (aye), which isn't just a Canadian thing. Insisting that Feh is pronouncing her name wrong is akin to saying people whose last name is spelled Dougherty and pronounced Dockerty are saying their names wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen the Great Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share Posted November 20, 2017 3 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said: Being pedantic here, but you were very much saying that "fay" is a reasonable pronunciation of "Feh" and not that "Feh" is a reasonable spelling for the pronunciation "fay": You tell him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bottlegnomes Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said: Being pedantic here, but you were very much saying that "fay" is a reasonable pronunciation of "Feh" and not that "Feh" is a reasonable spelling for the pronunciation "fay": Rereading my point, I had it in my head the opposite direction of how I typed it. What I was getting at is that Feh is a perfectly reasonable rendering of the name based on how similar sounding words are spelled, but I'll concede that I phrased it poorly. Anyway, my point still stands. Hell, if she'd said her name was spelled Pbzidyn she's still be right. Edited November 20, 2017 by bottlegnomes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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