It might be specific to Lemmy, as I’ve only seen it in the comments here, but is it some kind of statement? It can’t possibly be easier than just writing “th”? And in many comments I see “th” and “þ” being used interchangeably.

  • HatchetHaro@pawb.social
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    3 days ago

    i mean, i get why people are annoyed by it, but personally i found that the thorn didn’t really impede my ability to read that guy’s posts. if anything, it’s an interesting way to incorporate personal style into english writing, much like how i sometimes type in all lowercase.

    ßesides, it’s fun tø fuck around å little bît.

    • janNatan@lemmy.ml
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      3 days ago

      Ok. It’s time for unsolicited German facts.

      The ß or “eszett” (also known as “scharfes s” or “sharp s”) is actually the combination of the old long s (ſ) and a regular s.

      ſ + s = ſs = ß (can also be formed with

      Isn’t that neat? It’s also worth noting that no words start with ß, and it is lower-case only. If you need to write a word with an ß in all caps, replace it with a double s.

      Straße -> STRASSE

      Edit: not all of this is accurate, apparently. See comments below.

    • QuizzaciousOtter@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 days ago

      For me it makes the text MUCH harder to read. Basically, instead of just quickly “scanning” the text I need to stop and consciously decipher words with this character.

      When I read words I know I don’t read them letter by letter, I just recognize the entire “shape” instantly. The thorn throws this mechanism off completely for me.

    • Chloé 🥕@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      3 days ago

      sure, but you have to think about accessibility (like screen readers)

      the iOS screen reader just read your last line as “sesides, it’s fun toe fuck around a ring little bit”

      • lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 day ago

        Eh, fait accompli. Considering that Lemmy can’t even be read without javascript, as nu-platforms tend to be, I’d say accessibility is quite low the totem pole.

      • njm1314@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        It’s not like screen readers on Lemmy arent already transmitting untold horror as is.

    • Pissmidget@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      As someone who uses the æøå in their native tongue, please don’t. It makes the words sound awful.

      I’m still annoyed with stargåte.

      • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        To be fair, the å in Stargate is a coincidence, as it’s the symbol to represent earth which is represented by a pictograph of a pyramid with the sun behind it, i.e. this.

        But I can imagine how annoying that is, I can read Cyrillic and every time people use a Я to be an R it bogs my mind for a second.

      • possumparty@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        3 days ago

        it’s okay, let them use ø in to, and then ask them to pronounce it. they’ll reallllly struggle to get it. maybe even try to have them say rødgrøn med fløde to see them really suffer pronouncing something.

    • SlippiHUD@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      It usually will completely defeat my ability to read when I come across it, if I havent seen it in a while.

      But once I realize what’s going on my brain processes it fine.

      But for a second my thought process goes “Stroke?.. No, just metaphorical sand in the metaphorical reading gears.”

    • BurgerBaron@piefed.social
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      3 days ago

      It’s not hard to read so I just laugh at how fucking mad one guy gets everyone. I know they’re idiotically stubborn don’t worry.

    • Havatra@lemmy.zipOP
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      3 days ago

      I agree with the personalizing! I have a friend who wasn’t very good in English, so he masked it with leetspeak, and now that has simply become his style. It’s a bit of a hurdle getting used to it, but it’s rather intuitive, fortunately.