Heavy Metal Umlaut: Difference between revisions

{{trope|wppage=Metal umlaut}}

 

[[Everything's Better with Indexes|Ëvërÿthïng's mörë mëtäl wïth ümläüts]]. Maybe it's becäuse they can make änything look [[Gratuitous German|vaguely Germänic]], and [[Everything Sounds Sexier in French|everything söunds scarier in German]]. Or maybe it's jüst because [[Rule of Cool|they look cöol]], especially whën they're printed in a Göthic [[Useful Notes/Fonts|typeface]]. Either way, the diaeresis has becöme the text equivalent of giving ä Devil-hörned salute.

 

 

 

Incidentally, the only letters in [[German Language|German]] that are umlauts are ä, ö and ü. They are pronounced, respectively, as: the e in bed (like a combination of a & e); i in sir (o + e); and a sound best described as a French u, made by forming the letter o with your lips, and voicing "eeeee" (u + e). The bands should therefore be pronounced "Mo-tuhrr-head" and "Blue Uhy-ster cult". If you have a non-rhotic accent, the first two sounds are changed to "air" and "ur".

Bon̈us poin̈ẗs for Um̈lauẗs over con̈son̈an̈ẗs.

 

 

Not to be confused with other uses of diaereses (also called trema), in which diacritic marks identical to umlauts can appear in some English words. A diaeresis was traditionally used in vowel pairings where the second vowel is pronounced in a separate syllable, hence they are found in archaic spellings of words such as coöperate, preëmptive or Zodiäc. This usage is largely obsolete, though it is still part of the house style of The New Yorker magazine and MIT Technology Review, but survives in words like naïve which are borrowed from languages which do use diaereses to varying degrees.

 

Subtrope of [[Myspeld Rokband]]. See also [[Xtreme Kool Letterz]].

 

* In a non-musical example, the [[DC Comics]] universe used to have a city called Blüdhaven, which was to Gotham City as New Jersey is to New York and was so [[Dark Age of Supernames|dark and corrupt]] it grew an ümlaut. It mainly appeared in [[Nightwing]] and [[Batgirl]], but was eventually destroyed during the [[Infinite Crisis]] crossover event.

** The city appeared in the [[DCAU]] as well, in the ''[[Justice League]] Unlimited'' episode "Grudge Match".

 

== Fïlm ==

* ''Brüno.''

** Unicode represents it as "Spın̈al Tap", since not only does the n have an ümlaut, but the i has no dot over it. While the dotless i does exist in Unicode (for example, in Turkish), the n with an umlaut ''doesn't'', which makes it a bit trickier to type (you have to use a "combining diaeresis" character). (For the record, the character n̈ does in fact exist in some Mesoamerican languages, where it represents the same sound as English -ng.)

* In ''[[Hot Tub Time Machine]]'' with {{spoiler|Mötley , Lou's multi-platinum-selling band in which he rose to fame after [[I Choose to Stay|deciding to stay in the past]].}}

 

== Lïtërätürë ==

* The setting of the ''[[Inheritance Cycle|Inheritance]] <s>[[Inheritance Cycle|Trilogy]]</s> [[Trilogy Creep|Cycle]]'' is called Alagaësia, pronounced: Ala-gay-sea-ah. The ümlaut over the e is completely superfluous and does not affect the pronunciation of the name in any way.

** Actually, in the Ancient Language (language of the elves), which is the constructed language Christopher Paolini basically ripped off of old Norse, the diaeresis represents the elongation of the sound (e.g. ä = ay). For example, he explains in one of his appendices about the shift from the elven Äenora (ayenora) to the more human Anora (ahnora). Christopher Paolini made a comment about how Alagaësia is supposed to be pronounced Al-ah-gay-ee-zee-uh, but when us English speakers pronounce it, we mostly drop the ë because it sounds relatively the same without it, plus it's awkward to say.

* Rodrick's band Löded Diper from ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]]'' (though Greg says he probably doesn't know how to spell "Loaded Diaper" anyway).

 

== Lïvë-Äctïön TV ==

{{quote|'''Mike:''' Hey, where's the umlaut?}}

* ''[[The Colbert Report]]'' has "The Wørd".

*** Yes. Umlauts are seen as [[Irony|weaker]] versions of their parent vowel in German.

** Norwegian and Danish does not actually use umlauts, but everyone knows (due to exposure to Swedish and to a lesser degree the other languages that use them) that ö is equivalent to ø, ä to æ and so on.

* [[The Muppet Show|The Swedish Chef]]'s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvDvTnTGjgQ rendition of "Popcorn"] is spelled "Pöpcørn".

* [[The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson|ASS MÖDE]]

 

== Müsïc ==

* [[Motorhead]]

** There was a funny real-life incident when Motörhead was playing in Germany, and the fans chanted the bands name as it's pronounced in German.

** In fairness if English used umlauts Motörhead would probably be about right. "Mo-tuhrr-head" (see the top of the page) is how many, if not most, people in England say it.

** And within Motörhead, their guitarist Würzel

** As with the Motörhead example, German crowd: "MU-wet-leh CREW-eh!" (Yeah, [[Sarcasm Mode|that sounds really tough and hardcore]].)

** Which is even more gratuitous, considering that "ue" would be used in type if the "ü" glyph is unavailable.

{{quote|"The ümlaut over the 'y' has haunted us for years. We spent eleven years trying to explain how to pronounce it."}}

* The Spanish band Mägo de Oz - [[Catch Phrase|¡Cabroneeeees!]]

* German punk rock band ''[[Die Arzte]]'' (The Doctors), whose name in normal German is written with an 'Ä' already, tend to use an A with three dots. (Also, they decided on the name because there wasn't a band with Ä as the first letter back then.)

* Used/parodied by the Canadian group Moxy Früvous.

** Do they know that 'Döner' or 'Döner Kebap' is a popular Turkish meat dish?

* And then there is of course the Finnish rock band ''[[Leningrad Cowboys]]'', infamous for [[The Backwards R|pseudo-Cyrillic]] spellings like Lɘиiиɢяad Cowʙoys.

* Rap duo Dälek (pr. "die-uh-lek") use the umlaut to combine the word "dialect" (as pronounced in exaggerated rap dialect) with the popular ''[[Doctor Who]]'' villains. A neat little three-layer-cake of a pun.

** As in his lyric "Deadverse spoken with broken dälek"

* The Canadian Celtic/Appalachian/Acadian/folk band Scrüj MacDuhk (now either disbanded or simply known as The Duhks, depending on your point-of-view) is a decidedly non-metal example of this.

* Pop singer Jason Derülo is also a non-metal version of this. His real name is Jason Desrouleaux.

** this is correct, in Modern French, which uses the umlaut to indicate that letter have been dropped

* R&B singer and actress Mýa is an example of this not applied just to performers, because Mýa is her birth name.

* Subverted with the [[Cirque Du Soleil]] song "Pokinoï". This is a legitimate use of the symbol, but it's a ''diaeresis'' for ''French'': it shows that it's pronounced with an "oy" rather than a "wa".

* Röyksopp is a Norwegian electronica duo. The reason for the alternative orthography is not clear, but one might wonder if it has something to do with how "røyksopp" simply is the Norwegian word for "puffball".

* Lady Gaga's song "Yoü and I."

* [[Goth Rock]] band [[The Crüxshadows]] are another non-metal example.

 

== Nëwspäpër Cömïcs ==

* ''[[Bloom County]]''. Deathtöngue. "A bird on the bass, a tongue - what a face! At best, the music can best be described as lame..."

 

== Öthër ==

 

== Vïdëö Gämës ==

* ''[[Rock Band]] 2'' has an achievement called "Needs More Umlauts!", which is awarded the first time you create a band logo.

** This is possibly a double reference to [[Blue Öyster Cult|Blue Oyster Cult]], who started this trope and gained more popularity through SNL's "Needs More Cowbell" sketch, which the Rock Band games make a LOT of references to.

* A notable non-music example is Inrenes from ''[[Chrono Cross]]'', where this is her [[Verbal Tic]].

** Söme peöple wonder how the title of this game will be pronounced in Germany once it's released.

*** ''Loudly''.

* Inverted with ''[[Einhander|Einhänder]]''. The title is correct German, but the narrator incorrectly pronounces the A as a non-umlaut (back) vowel.

* The first mark in [[The Dishwasher]]: Vampire Smile is the banker... named Barön Ömötö. However, the one voice clip that plays (an advertisement) pronounces all the ö's long, making his name sound like oe-MOE-toe.

 

== Wëb Cömïcs ==

* Webcomic ''[[Ugly Hill]]'' poked fun at this.

* Used repeatedly in ''[[Erfworld]]'' where the protagonist's army consists of a medley of heavy metal references.

 

== Wëb Öriginäl ==

* Complained about in [http://community.livejournal.com/metaquotes/7034185.html this] Metaquotes entry.

* In the ''[[Escape Velocity]]'' data files, every EV-specific resource type includes a gratuitous umlaut (e.g. "shïp" for spacecraft, "düde" for named characters, etc), to avoid collisions with the built-in system resources.

 

== Wëstërn Änïmätïön ==

* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' includes a recurring '90s Hair Band called Love Händel.

** [[Genius Bonus]]? Taken together, the misspelling and the umlaut suggest Georg Frederich Händel.

 

== Rëäl Lïfë ==

[[Category:Music Tropes]]

[[Category:Trope Makers]]

[[Category:Everything's Better with Indexes]]

[[Category:Self-Demonstrating Article]]