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.

* 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 ==

 

== 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.

** It gets even stranger: In German, it ''does'' change the pronunciation - from Al-la-gä-si-a<ref>German pronunciation</ref> to Al-la-ga-e-si-a.<ref>yes, still German pronunciation</ref> The problem? The first one is the intended one.

* 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.

* [[Queensrÿche]]. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Geoff Tate in an interview:

{{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"

* One band deliberately misspelled "cornet" as "corønet", parodying both the Heavy Metal Umlaut and a very common misspelling of "cornet" (which spellcheckers won't pick up).

* 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.

== 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 ==

* Parodied by ''[[The Onion]]'' with [https://web.archive.org/web/20100219021734/http://www.theonion.com/content/node/32404 "Ünited Stätes Toughens Image With Umlauts"].

 

== 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]].

* The [[Heavy Metal]] game ''[[Brutal Legend]]'', starring [[Jack Black]] as a roädie who gets sucked into a fantasy world fueled by [[The Power of Rock]], features a Heavy Metal Umlaut in its title.

* 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 ==