Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2024 May 17

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May 17

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The abbreviation of the 7 days of the week -> not pangram, no B, C, G, J, K, L, P, Q, V, X, Y, Z

The abbreviation of the 12 months -> not pangram, no H, I, K, Q, W, X, Z

The symbol of the 118 chemical elements -> not pangram, no J, Q

The abbreviation of the 88 constellations -> not pangram, no J, K, W, Z

The abbreviation of the 50 states of America -> not pangram, no B, Q

So the abbreviation of which thing is a pangram? 1.165.122.186 (talk) 10:21, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

IATA airport code should do it (unless I misunderstood your question). 41.23.55.195 (talk) 10:54, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Also, broadcast call signs, at least here in the US, and probably in many more countries. GalacticShoe (talk) 20:58, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
One could argue that the Alphabet itself is a pangram, since each of the letters is a written abbreviation of that letter's spoken name, and the historical origin of the alphabet means that the original names came first. I doubt however that that is the answer sought.
The earliest known form of the alphabet we now use was based on Egyptian heiroglyphs (and speech): it was predated by the similar-in-principle Egyptian uniliteral signs, but there seems to be no connection between them. The latter might also therefore be considered a pangram. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.2.67.173 (talk) 11:15, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The first two are unsurprising, since it's logically impossible for a set of 7 or 12 elements to contain 26 distinct elements. If you're going by ordinary words, then only a few English dictionary words begin with "X" (a perennial problem for alphabet books), and initial "Z" is also somewhat uncommon. AnonMoos (talk) 11:41, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Why does the word have to begin with "x" or "z"? What does that have to do with it? The most famous pangram uses "x" from fox and "z" from lazy. 41.23.55.195 (talk) 11:47, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Consider the six words:
cwm, fjord, bank, glyph, vext, quiz
The plural “s” can be added in back of one of the first five words (it cannot be added in back of one of the word “quiz”, since its plural is quizzes), and then we have a pangram which uses all letters exactly once. 220.132.230.56 (talk) 15:10, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That's really neat but how does it relate to the op's question? 41.246.129.210 (talk) 15:32, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that it's logically impossible for abbreviations for days of the week (even if you use Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun) but Jan, Feb, Mar to Dec gives 36 elements. Of course you can use J,F,M,A,M,J,J,A,S,O,N,D as abbreviations (12 elements) but what month is "J"? 41.23.55.195 (talk) 11:56, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It is surprising that the mode for the first letter of the months is J but no single symbol of the chemical elements contain the letter J, since they are from the similar ancient names (e.g. cerium is from 1 Ceres, palladium is from 2 Pallas, and the month June is from 3 Juno), also, neptunium is from Neptune, and the first suggestion name of Neptune is Janus, if Neptune was named Janus rather than Neptune, then element 93 will be named “Janium” (like element 92: Uranium, which was named after Uranus), and its symbol would be Jn (or J, or Ja), I think that this name is better, since element 93 is the first transuranium element, thus can be the first element with a “J” in both its name and its symbol. (Note that the month January was named after Janus) 220.132.230.56 (talk) 15:05, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The month of June derives from the Roman month of Iunius or Junius, which was named after the goddess Juno. It certainly wasn't named after the asteroid Juno (itself also named after the goddess Juno), which wasn't discovered until the 19th century. Proteus (Talk) 15:04, 20 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Between 1999 and 2012 (inclusive), the element symbols were one step closer to a pangram, since flerovium (Fl) still had its temporary name ununquadium (Uuq).
In some old periodic tables J replaces I for iodine (maybe to abbreviate German Jod). But this and Q wouldn't have been available at the same time. Double sharp (talk) 14:08, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If you use the lunar months (Harriet, Ronan, Miri, James (today is James viii, by the way), Eloise, Thomas, vii, Nicholas, Catherine, Richard, Emma and Paul) (see Special:Permalink/1188536894#The Reichenau Primer (opposite Pangur Bán)) the same uncommon letters are missed out. It might be more rewarding to look at the Aztec calendar or Maya calendar. 80.43.16.65 (talk) 17:42, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
"James VIII" was followed by "Charles III"! 80.43.16.65 (talk) 17:52, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
One of the Transfermium Wars elements was Jl (joliotium) for dubnium. —Kusma (talk) 10:32, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
True! But unfortunately, the current names of 104-109 became final in 1997, just before 114 was discovered in 1999, so the periodic table just missed being a pangram. :( Double sharp (talk) 05:55, 19 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Scandalous! 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 09:10, 19 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Neptunium is from Neptune, and the first suggestion name of Neptune is Janus, if Neptune was named Janus rather than Neptune, then element 93 will be named “Janium” (like element 92: Uranium, which was named after Uranus), and its symbol would be Jn (or J, or Ja), and if so, when element 104 was discovered (named Unnilquidium, symbol Unq) would be a pangram. 220.132.230.56 (talk) 12:10, 19 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Well, I think that “IUPAC 94“ plan is the best, I want to replace the current set of names by this set of names (replace elements 104, 105, 106, 108). 220.132.230.56 (talk) 06:55, 22 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There was rather a huge outcry against that set, which denied the undisputed discoverers of 106 and 108 the right to choose their names. :) I'd be a lot happier with a solution that kept the present names, except for renaming 102 to joliotium, since Dubna actually found it and the Swedish institute (whence the name nobelium) didn't. But what's done is done, and opening that can of worms won't be very productive. Double sharp (talk) 02:20, 23 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I want this J in the periodic table, could you email IUPAC to rename element 102 to joliotium? Please. 1.165.115.5 (talk) 09:49, 23 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I want IUPAC to rename an element to make there be an element (and its symbol) starting with the letter J:
  1. Rename 102 or 105 to joliotium (Jl)
  2. Rename 113 to japonium (Jp)
  3. Rename 72 to jargonium (Jg)
  4. Rename 93 to janium (J or Jn, after Janus, which is the first suggestion name of Neptune)
  5. Rename 48 to junonium (Ju or Jn, after 3 Juno, which is a suggestion name of cadmium, when 46 (palladium) was named after 2 Pallas)
  6. Rename 53 to jodine (change this I to J, and the symbol is also J)
I know that, Italian (and many other Romance languages) has no letter J, and Italian translates January to “Gennaio”, translates Jurassic to “Giurassico”, and translates Jeudi (Thursday) to “Giovedì”, etc. i.e. change this J to Gi or Ge, and I want to see how Italian (and many other Romance languages) will translate this element and will make the Italian name and the chemical symbol of this element start with different letters. 220.132.230.56 (talk) 15:24, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Another question: Use the symbol of the 118 chemical elements, and the abbreviation of the 88 constellations, and the abbreviation of the 50 states of America, what is the least words we need to make a pangram? 49.217.196.102 (talk) 10:27, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Aql, B, Cu, Fm, Gd, KY, NJ, Oph, Sex, VT, WI, Zr is a perfect pangram. I’m not sure is there a lesser list of words. Nucleus hydro elemon (talk) 09:14, 20 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Wow! A perfect pangram exists! 220.132.230.56 (talk) 05:08, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I am curious how you found it? 2402:7500:917:186C:C15C:2E75:1297:EE48 (talk) 08:00, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  1. List all the chemical element symbols, state abbreviations, and constellation abbreviations.
  2. Find the rarest alphabet. In the first iteration, it will be J.
  3. Pick anything that contains this rarest alphabet. J only appears in NJ, so I must use it.
  4. Delete everything that contains other alphabets in that thing you chose. As I picked NJ, I have to delete N, In, Nor, and a lot of others that contained N.
  5. Repeat until a perfect pangram appears.
Nucleus hydro elemon (talk) 10:44, 22 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Nitpick, but a single character is a letter (or possibly glyph), alphabet refers to the whole combined system of characters. (Wikipedia refers to it as a "standard set of letters".) 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 11:00, 22 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, so how many solutions of perfect pangram exist? 61.224.168.169 (talk) 10:50, 24 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
How many solutions of perfect pangram exist? Also, how many things (chemical elements, constellations, states of America) are contained in every perfect pangram? Or not contained in any perfect pangram? 220.132.230.56 (talk) 14:22, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Some other solutions from your solution:
  1. Replace B to Yb, replace KY to K
  2. Replace B to Bi, replace WI to W
  3. Replace Cu to C and U
  4. Replace KY to K and Y
  5. Replace B to Bh, replace Oph to Po
  6. Replace Sex to S and Xe
  7. Replace Cu to Tc and U, replace VT to V
220.132.230.56 (talk) 14:31, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
In ISO 3166-1, both the two- and three-letter code sets form pangrams. Many are abbreviations of the country name, though compromises had to be made to avoid duplicates. -- Verbarson  talkedits 15:32, 19 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Even the English name of all nonnegative integers is not pangram, no J, K, see (sequence A073029 in the OEIS). 220.132.230.56 (talk) 05:34, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Until they pin down wikt:jazillion and wikt:kazillion. -- Verbarson  talkedits 08:05, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I was aware (although I didn't think about it) that an Algerian surname, when written in English, can include six consecutive vowels or, including a median 'h' (I have read that a feature of Arabic is a very strong 'h' sound) eight. What's the maximum number of successive vowels? Of course, since the number of vowels is limited to five (I can't speak specifically to Arabic because I don't speak the language) some will appear more than once. 80.43.16.65 (talk) 13:24, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]