A U after the Q

[leon]

Hi Guys.

I have an interesting Question, and no, it has nothing to do with Lappys and Computers, This Time

When I was at school we were always taught that if a word started with the letter Q it was always followed by a letter U, correct

So why is it that "Qantas" is spelled with an A following the Q

Leon

[Rainmaker (Matt)]

it's not a word, it's an acronym....

[mura_gadi (Steve)]

Hello,

If you want a word with a q and no u, try kiviaq(but not literally). Great for scrabble.


Steve
Ps. Not the best word to look up around breakfast time.

[middy]

As Matt says, it's an acronym.

Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services

[Stonius (Markus)]

Iraq?

[julianh72 (Julian)]

"qi" is a valid Scrabble word, useful for getting rid of a "q" when you don't have a "u" - it is a "borrowed" word from Mandarin, but a valid English word nonetheless.

[pmrid (Peter)]

Originally Posted by leon

Hi Guys.

I have an interesting Question, and no, it has nothing to do with Lappys and Computers, This Time

When I was at school we were always taught that if a word started with the letter Q it was always followed by a letter U, correct

So why is it that "Qantas" is spelled with an A following the Q

Leon

Because it is an acronym, not a proper word: Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service or something like that.

[Stonius (Markus)]

Originally Posted by Stonius

Iraq?

To answer my own question with an easily Googlable reference;


Because of the Phoenicians
The ancestor of Q, koppa, was for a consonant made way in the back of the throat, with the back of the tongue touching the uvula. English doesn't have anything like this sound, but Arabic does, and in borrowings from Arabic (e.g., Qatar, Iraq), English represents it, appropriately, with a Q


So there you go.


Markus

[raymo]

kiviaq is not acceptable in the English language version of scrabble, not
being in an English dictionary.
raymo

[tempestwizz (Brian)]

Qatar

[mura_gadi (Steve)]

Hello,

Excluding kiviaq would exclude any other word adopted in from another language/culture. Which is a million miles away from the whole strength of the English language, cultural adaptions accepted as English number in the 10's of thousands and give the language its dynamics. Seems like you exclude sushi or spaghetti as well then.


Steve

[raymo]

Foreign words and phrases such as au fait, or a la carte ,that are commonly used in English speaking countries are in English dictionaries. If you are going to include foreign words that almost nobody has ever heard of, you might as well use any foreign word you like when playing scrabble.
raymo

[leon]

Oh dear I should have known that, now i feel stupid. thank you anyway.

Leon