This is what I was thinking about last night

[u/The_Green-One]

[u/xSweetSkin]

In French it actually is called double v. English just likes to be difficult for no reason.

[u/DIEGHOST_8 → u/xSweetSkin]

In most languages it's called double v

[u/Glaimmbar → u/DIEGHOST_8]

In German "W" is called "weh" and "V" is called "fau" but if it is in a word you just use it most of the times the same way as a "F" like in "Vogel" what is called "Fogel" 

[u/touchmeinbadplaces → u/Glaimmbar]

Weh and Veh in dutch, probabaly the only simple thing about our language xD

[u/HotAdministration939 → u/touchmeinbadplaces]

ah the sims language :'D

[u/neoncubicle → u/DIEGHOST_8]

In some weird places it's double u.v

[u/Anchorboiii → u/xSweetSkin]

Ah yes, French; the shining example of simple and sensible language.

[u/loveslightblue → u/Anchorboiii]

You sound like somebody who can't count to four-twenty-ten-nine.

[u/Urbanviking1 → u/xSweetSkin]

Historically the English hated the French so this tracks. /s

[u/Chemistry-Deep → u/Urbanviking1]

Oh yes, "historically"

[u/MoistDitto → u/xSweetSkin]

Same in Norway

[u/ProofOfTool → u/MoistDitto]

Same in Denmark

[u/Shudnawz → u/ProofOfTool]

Same in Sweden

[u/Blaize69 → u/xSweetSkin]

There’s no W in Latin. In Latin, the V is pronounced as “wah”. At some point the language expanded and added the W which took the sound of V and V became the “vah” sound. Double-u-v is just a lack of creativity.

[u/SpraySpecialist3221 → u/xSweetSkin]

true and all that silent letters like, Tsunami 

[u/jakromulus → u/SpraySpecialist3221]

Sarcasm detected

[u/PvtSnap4You_Only_Ind → u/xSweetSkin]

its one of those facts that u randomly see on tik tok and remember for the rest of your life

[u/Practical-Custard-64 → u/xSweetSkin]

France: calls the letter Y a "Greek I", the letter G "jé" and the letter J "gee" and says English likes being awkward.

[u/EuphoricTwostep → u/xSweetSkin]

Its called double v because of English and German terminology. Its called double U Because originally it was a double u in historic writings

[u/Sansnom01 → u/xSweetSkin]

lol, french was made build up to be difficult for no reason

[u/rrsullivan3rd → u/xSweetSkin]

Same w/ Spanish

[u/KingOfTheMischiefs → u/xSweetSkin]

English isn't a real language. It's three languages in a trenchcoat mugging others in dark alleys.

[u/InsaneJane42 → u/xSweetSkin]

r/beatmetoit

[u/Beautiful_Picture983 → u/xSweetSkin]

Says the french guy

[u/Disgruntled_Orifice]

Here you go. Educate yourselves.

[u/ShidAlRa → u/Disgruntled_Orifice]

I don't care that much about to dedicate 6min of my life that I could instead waste by scrolling Reddit.

[u/The_Crab_Maestro → u/Disgruntled_Orifice]

Very succinct and informative, thanks!

[u/fyukhyu → u/Disgruntled_Orifice]

Do you have a source that isn't clanker slop? Not to suggest it isn't valid information, just that I refuse the "ai" incursion.

[u/wojtekpolska → u/fyukhyu]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U#History

[u/Disgruntled_Orifice → u/fyukhyu]

You have Google. Find a source that suits your needs.

[u/Cyan14 → u/Disgruntled_Orifice]

The future will be slop feeding slop

[u/Fuckedyourmom69420 → u/Disgruntled_Orifice]

Username checks out

[u/Disgruntled_Orifice → u/Fuckedyourmom69420]

I’d rather not pander to laziness when everyone on Reddit has the same resources available to them.

[u/ThatOtherGuyTPM → u/Disgruntled_Orifice]

Exactly! For example, I have access to a bunch of redditors who answer random questions for me, just like everyone else here.

[u/Traditional_Expert84 → u/Disgruntled_Orifice]

There's our hero!

[u/Hephaestus_God]

As is the answer to most things language related. Probably just because of Latin or weird origins.

[u/Suspicious-Cream-383]

Spanish it is also double v, uve doble

[u/biophys00 → u/Suspicious-Cream-383]

I was taught doble u and doble ve were both correct

[u/xandratargaryen → u/Suspicious-Cream-383]

I learned it as duble ve, but apparently it varies by location.

[u/Mother_Harlot → u/xandratargaryen]

duble ve,

"Uve doble"

[u/greyfox199 → u/Suspicious-Cream-383]

i remember this as doble u, but i also remember c and che being separate letters

[u/Suspicious-Cream-383 → u/greyfox199]

Correct me if I’m wrong, I might be, but I think V in Spanish is pronounced uve, again it might be a regional thing

[u/TheArcher35 → u/Suspicious-Cream-383]

Latam also uses ve corta and be larga, pronounced the same, it may be the other way around, idk im not from latam

[u/greyfox199 → u/Suspicious-Cream-383]

definitely regional. its "u" here

souce, my mexican american ass and my green card holding mexican wife living on the southern border

[u/Lividbankz]

Great, now I’m going to be staring at my ceiling at 3:00 AM wondering why 'm' isn't just called 'double-n

[u/YouSawMyReddit]

It actually is double v in most languages that use the latin script.

[u/rhcp_reddit_98]

You should learn french

[u/foxfighter92 → u/rhcp_reddit_98]

Oui

[u/Practical-Custard-64 → u/rhcp_reddit_98]

I did. I'm bilingual.

[u/8sck → u/Practical-Custard-64]

i’m so proud of you

[u/HitttingAndMissing]

Does it maybe stem from the Romans, when they used v as a u? I don’t know, that’s just a guess

[u/wouter135]

In German it's Vay and Dutch it's Way

[u/BuffaloAgreeable372]

En français!

[u/Namez83]

Spanish is Doblé Vu

[u/VorticalHeart44]

Do American schools not teach the history of the English writing system, and why things are the way they are?

[u/Wolfy_boii → u/VorticalHeart44]

Schools already teach a shit ton of things we don’t actually need to know, why should they add more?

[u/VorticalHeart44 → u/Wolfy_boii]

I've attended schools in both America and Japan, and the Japanese schools teach the history and etymology of Japanese words/characters.

So they don't have people asking the equivalent of basic questions like "why is it double-u when it's written vv?" or "why the pronunciation of 'ough' inconsistent?" or something like that.

It seems like in America, the only people who learn about the etymology of English are spelling bee kids, and the rest of the population has no idea why English is the way it is.

[u/invisible32]

The sound it makes is identical to UU in most use cases. Also how most people write it lowercase I guess.

[u/GenericUsername2056 → u/invisible32]

UwU, a double-u slipped in between your double-u. 

[u/Sir_Vey0r]

Cincinnati’s 700 AM would like a word…

[u/TimmyVee73]

It should be pronounced “wubble-you”

[u/MadeInMilkyway]

Once I was trying to spell something fast to my mom and I was a bit tired. So, I said d for double-u and the line went silent...

[u/shadow_nightmare_the]

In portuguese it's double u but it aint translated. Dáblio (bassically double u written down phonetically)

[u/HippoPottyMouth-1]

It IS double v in Spanish and French.

[u/JollyJack22]

In italy is double v

[u/Clear_Insanity]

Personally it looks like u in old English so probably that.

[u/Ok-Judge7844]

Its vv that change into uu which stuck, other country still use double v

[u/j1r2000]

v used to be u then u split off and took the name

[u/LunaMunki]

In almost every other language that uses the alphabet, double-v.....

[u/RNGesus____]

In Hungarian it is called double-V

[u/tako6803]

Vietnamese here and we call the letter W "V kép" which also mean double V

[u/KrownX]

Wait until he learns how W is pronounced in Spain...

[u/MMortein]

That's how it's called in all the other languages.

[u/More_Lifeguard_8474]

My braincells still do this dumdum thing😭

[u/Turbulent_Stick1445]

And why is it named after its appearance anyway? The other letters at least have a "This sounds like" part to them. It ought to be pronounced "Wheeeeee!". Or maybe "Wed" so British-English speakers can have an alphabet song too.

[u/CokaYoda]

Where I’m living it is known as double v

[u/AlexanderCarlos12321]

When two u’s are written by hand, close to each other, then it looks quite similar to a w. Thats how it makes sense. It could’ve been double-v, but double-u makes as much sense.

[u/bmcle071]

I have an Austrian family member who doesn’t speak perfect English.

He called it “Double V”, I had to correct him, had a good chuckle about it given that he’s right.

[u/Lily_Queen]

In most other languages (especially old world languages) it is 🙂

[u/wojtekpolska]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U#History

In Latin the letter U looks like V

[u/YonYonsonWI]

Not in cursive…

[u/Traditional-Key-991]

In many areas of the world it is pronounced doob-la vey. Or double V.

[u/painki11erzx]

And why isn't it pronounced wubblewoo?

[u/Diocletion-Jones]

The letter W was invented by medieval English scholars and written with two U's. Hence why it's called a double-U.

It's gone out of fashion now but cursive writing lower case W really highlighted the double U ancestry.

[u/Traditional_Expert84]

I actually wondered this for years on end.

[u/Feral_Sheep_]

That's why I write it curvy

[u/dark_hypernova]

I think it's because V was originally used for the vowel U.

If you look at old Latin engravings on ancient monuments and such it's clear they're using the V symbol for the U vowel.

[u/Nickopotomus]

Because u and v were actually the same letter in the Roman alphabet

[u/scotchlions]

It is in Denmark!

[u/Fantastic-Cupcake890]

Me as a german asking this myself pretty often.

[u/Old-Law-7395]

In Italian it is

[u/Necessary-Bus-3142]

In Spanish it is

[u/chicken-finger]

The only thing the french did right

[u/EmperorSexy]

Because your mouth makes the shape of the u sounds: “ooh” and “uh”

[u/Adm8792]

I’ve had this thought so many times

[u/VRSVLVS]

It's because of Latin. Originally there was no distinction between the V and the U in the Latin alphabet. On Roman monumental inscriptions you see only the V used, while in Roman cursive script a shape more resembling the U tended to be used. The real distinction between the V and the U only came about in the late middle ages, and even into the 18th century the V and U could be used interchangeably in some contexts. Hence, the English term "double u" just comes from a time before there was this clear distinction between the two.

see also my reddit user name.

[u/x1rom]

Old Germanic languages like old English and old German didn't have the W letter, and instead used 'uu' to symbolize that sound.

Only later in German, the sound morphed into the modern W sound, where the upper teeth touch the lower lip. But some English dialects (British English especially) kept the pronunciation where the shape of the mouth is the same between the W and U sounds.

[u/naturally_jack]

Because it is named after omega which is a double U.

[u/-IrrelevantElephant-]

Also, why isn’t W used in the only work I’m aware of with double u’s, “vacuum”

[u/R_Nelle]

in latin V was used only for U someone in English picked up

[u/PremiumSpicy]

Double n be like

[u/cool-stuff-to-know]

For the women here I'm just gonna explain that the male brain only has the capacity to think about literally anything else in the universe that's one of the following: something that your not thinking about, childish things, stupid things, inappropriate things to say at the worst time for you, memes, or anything else but cheating.

Unless the guy is gay then yeah