Why does 'get squiggling' use 'aye, bee, cee' and alphablocks use 'ah, buh, kuh' ?

[peanutbuttersarnies]

Is it cos get squiggling isn't using the correct sounds as per the Phonics ? I have no idea, cos my eldest is only 3. But he is starting to be interested in letters. And I have been trying to tell him the alphablock type sounds. But then get squiggling comes on and confuses the situation!

so was it a rhetorical question?

No

ROFL anyone???

I hate Squiglet BTW, sadly DS loves it (him/her?), I have to sit next to him the whole way through hissing the letter sounds

and I suspect that is at the heart of your difficulty ...

The heart of my difficulty is teachers who can't distinguish between the general and the particular.

Acronyms are simply a type of word.

Does Wiki help any?

"Acronyms are a type of word formation process, and they are viewed as a subtype of blending."

Not really, the formal definitions of a word listed above are clearer.

Acronyms are not necessarily words. Some acronyms are also words. NASA, as Mrz says, is one. Ofcom is another, as is Ofsted. Some acronyms are simply that - a set of initials which are given as a short-hand. NSPCC, for example. You can't say 'NSPCC' as a word.

mrz, sorry, I wasn't trying to derail the thread, just replying to a post by steppemum :)

I know it's confusing!
Aye bee etc is the letter name.
Ah, buh is the sound the letters make.

Nice try,

but if I can say the longest word in Welsh as a single word, believe me, I have no problem saying NSPCC as a word.

(Incidentally, the presence or absence of vowels is irrelevant.)

Alphablocks uses both by the way. "I am AAAAAAAAAA a a a" etc

My 3yo had no problem picking up both and can differentiate between them ("That's an A", "Yes it is, DC, and what sound does it make?", "a, a, a")

I do enjoy these little exchanges. Largely because they seem so irrelevant to how my children learn, but are entertaining to read nonetheless.

I have no problem saying NSPCC as a word. except it isn't a word no matter how much you would like to believe it is ... There should be a full stop separating each letter because each letter represents a word.

It is the three year olds who know both letter names and sounds who often struggle most with spelling later as the try to use a combination, spelling light as lIt and boat as bOt for example which is why most teachers leave letter names until a child is more secure with sounds.

and for the record if you did say NSPCC as a word using your knowledge of long Welsh words you would take away the true meaning of the initialisation so making an utterance not understood by others.

Sometimes you have to accept that you are wrong. NSPCC simply cannot be said as a word because it isn't one. It is a shorthand notation of the title of the organisation ' The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children'.

DD started to have an interest in letters when she was 2.5. We taught her the letter names and she managed very well the transition to sounds when she started school 1.5 years later.

She even managed the letter names in a second language as she grows up bi-lingual. german is a more phonetic language so this may have helped.

I personally found Alpha locks good when it came to blending sounds, something DD wasn't interested before she started school.

The use of full stops within or beside words doesn't prevent them from being words, e.g. etc. is a word, i.e. a word may have its own punctuation.

And yes, before you get your knickers in another twist, girls, abbreviations and contractions are other types of words!

You would obviously fail a basic grammar and punctuation test learnandsay

If marked by someone who had their own interpretation of it, couldn't distinguish between the general and the particular and refused to listen to reason, probably.

i.d. is the abbreviation of id est meaning that is ...
e.g. is the abbreviation of exempli gratia meaning for the sake of example ...
not words or acronyms but abbreviations of words

Abbreviations, contractions and acronyms are all types of words.

You are the one who has a unique interpretation of standard English learnandsay

..as are compound words and various trademarks.

But are they allowed in Scrabble?