# spark240 is now Peremensoe **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 19, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334 "2011-08-19T17:06:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/1 "2011-08-19T17:06:04Z")
Hey y’all. I wanted a new name here for various reasons, and **TubaDiva** just made the switch for me. No discontinuity with previous comments is intended. > [@Ursula K. Le Guin](#): > > “Ram, what does peremensoe mean?” > “Thinking. Ideas. Understanding. Talk.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/2 "2011-08-20T05:08:26Z")
Cool name. So is it pronounced para-MEN-so? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/3 "2011-08-20T19:00:04Z")
Sure, something like that. It’s a transcription from an imaginary, unwritten language, so I reckon it’s spelled how it sounds and vice-versa. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/4 "2011-08-22T18:07:13Z")
Please clear up confusion of my personal brain bias. spark240 = male Peremensoe = female So which is it? ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/5 "2011-08-22T18:46:07Z")
Am I insane (maybe), but I thought it was spark420, not spark240? Joe ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/6 "2011-08-22T21:11:34Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > spark240 = male > > Peremensoe = female > > So which is it? It’s Peremensoe, not Premenstrual. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/7 "2011-08-23T00:09:18Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Please clear up confusion of my personal brain bias. > > spark240 = male > > Peremensoe = female > > So which is it? I’m male. “Pere” (father) + “mens” + “oe” (masculine name ending) seems pretty male-oriented. In the story, it refers to the body of philosophical knowledge of the “Old Men” of the culture. > [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > Am I insane (maybe), but I thought it was spark420, not spark240? No. At least a couple people read it that way and thought it was a pot-smoking reference–“spark up the 420”–but it was never meant that way. Not that I object to people sparking up. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/8 "2011-08-23T00:13:15Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Sure, something like that. It’s a transcription from an imaginary, unwritten language, so I reckon it’s spelled how it sounds and vice-versa. How it sounds in the imaginary unwritten language, or how it sounds in English? I guess you mean that if the imaginary language used the English alphabet and its spelling/pronunciation rules, that’s the way you would spell it in English. Except that English doesn’t have any pronunciation rules, because as we all know fish and ghoti are pronounced the same. Now I’ve hopelessly confused myself. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/9 "2011-08-23T00:18:30Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > How it sounds in the imaginary unwritten language, or how it sounds in English? Yes, exactly. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/10 "2011-08-23T01:15:16Z")
Now if we could just get the other “spark” wannabes new names… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/11 "2011-08-23T01:24:32Z")
What imaginary language is it from, and where is that language from? Did you make it up yourself, the language? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/12 "2011-08-23T02:38:02Z")
It’s from “The Pathways of Desire,” a 1979 short story by the great [Ursula K. Le Guin](http://www.ursulakleguin.com/UKL_info.html). The language is a key element of the story, but only a handful of words actually appear. (To say more would be a spoiler.) I use it here for its specific meaning within that story, and as general tribute to Le Guin. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/13 "2011-08-24T01:29:08Z")
Oh frabjous day, brother! Welcome to the club of `Posters who have usernames that are impossible to pronounce with any confidence`! Umm, we are working on making the club name a bit shorter. Help yourself to pie in the back. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/14 "2011-08-24T01:38:52Z")
It’s pronounced “chruck”. Or maybe “IN-sur-ance.” 😉 Anyway, welcome back. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/15 "2011-08-24T01:41:39Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > Umm, we are working on making the club name a bit shorter. And to be consistent, more ambiguous and difficult to correctly pronounce. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/16 "2011-08-24T01:43:34Z")
My mind sees it as Persephone, which is a little jarring. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/17 "2011-08-24T02:24:57Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > How it sounds in the imaginary unwritten language, or how it sounds in English? I guess you mean that if the imaginary language used the English alphabet and its spelling/pronunciation rules, that’s the way you would spell it in English. Except that English doesn’t have any pronunciation rules, because as we all know fish and ghoti are pronounced the same. Now I’ve hopelessly confused myself. English does not lack pronunciation rules. English has, rather, very complicated pronunciation rules. One of them is that that the phoneme /f/ may be spelled _f_, _ph_, or _gh_, but the last is not permitted at the beginning of a word. Another is that the phoneme /ʃ/ may be spelled _sh_, _ch_, or _ti_, but the last is only permitted at the onset of a syllable, not as the coda. I was going to use the [pedantic jackass] [/pedantic jackass] tags, but I got a new Literal Truth add-on in Firefox and the computer was forced to point out that my pedantic jackassery does not have an off switch. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/18 "2011-08-24T13:44:41Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > My mind sees it as Persephone, which is a little jarring. Hence the female looking name. ---
**Author:** ![foxymoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@foxymoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foxymoron)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spark240-is-now-peremensoe/593334/19 "2011-08-24T14:27:36Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > My mind sees it as Persephone, which is a little jarring. Same for me. ☹