The Rise of The Phononyms
Ever had that problem when you're typing a text message on your mobile without really paying much attention, and you realise you've asked someone if they want to go down the 'sub'? How about asking someone out for dinner, but accidentally asking them if they want to get some 'done'?
These are common problems, suffered by a lot of people, and are due to a phenomenon (or should that be 'phoneomenon') I've chosen to name 'Phononyms'. What's a phononym? It's when you type a word on your phone, only for another word, which can be typed using the same button combination to appear in it's place. It's a problem created by predictive text, and can be annoying as well as amusing. One example would be 'reap', and 'rear' - both are spelled by pressing 7,3,2,7. Try it out!
In the spirit of bringing as many phononyms to light as possible, I'm going to start us off with phononyms of 'Bauer' (2,2,8,7,3), as in Jack Bauer from 24. I was lucky enough to be typing his name out on my phone, only to be confronted with these alternative words (although I'm not too sure about the last one in terms of meaning):
Caves, Cater, Bates, Caver.
What phononyms do you know of? Tell me about them in the comments section and I'll write up the best ones entered!
- 14th February, 2007
- Ideas.
Comments about 'The Rise of The Phononyms'
mic said:
2.00pm, 29 May 2007
better than "phononym" (which i thought *i* had invented when i first thought of it!) -- "simonnym". why? "sim" for the SIM card in your phone; a nice sounding and appropriate twist on "synonym"; and best of all -- "simonnym" is spelled with the same number keys as "phononym"!!! :o)
Adam Bomb said:
11.04am, 15 February 2007
What about damn - 3,2,6,6? Its comes up with Econ, then Famo. Its pretty cool actually, because famo is sometimes more appropriate than damn i.e. "Famo! I forgot to ring them!"