Bertrand Meyer's technology

Bertrand Meyer's technology+ blog

notice

Umlottery [ˈʊm.lɑːɾɚɹi] (fr. umloterie, f; ger. Umlotterie, f.; it. umlotteria, f.; rus. умлотерия , f.).

Definition

A spur-of-the-moment and generally random choice, via a hesitant speaker of German speaking in front of a (usually enormous) native-speaker viewers, to pronounce the next meant observe with, or without, an umlaut on the decisive syllable.

instance use

“My programming trainer appears to play the umlottery plenty lately, and lots of the time he loses.“

dialogue

within the German language some vowels alternate their pronunciation beneath the effect of the “umlaut”, a diacritical mark acting as a double duration, as in “ä” (pronounced like an “e” in “Ted“) versus a undeniable “a” (suggested “Ah“). Many nouns and verbs add umlauts in some however no longer all of their inflections (declinations or conjugations).  Non-native audio system find it a problem to be aware when to umlaut and when now not. The penalties of mistaken umlauting can be dramatic; for instance “drucken” ability to print and “drücken” to press. imagine the consequences of a police chief telling a subordinate “Print a new reproduction of the witness’s commentary” and being understood as “power the witness into making a different statement“. The stress is as a result high on the general public speaker who suddenly can't be aware, in the crux of a talk, whether the first syllable of his subsequent chosen notice may still be umlauted  or now not.  Umlottery is the widely practiced technique of taking a large breath, silently praying to a few better power for insurance plan, and taking an opportunity (as if having a bet at the lottery) by hook or by crook.

Etymology

Composite be aware made up from “umlaut” and “lottery”.

beginning

genuine foundation unknown. First attested written incidence in “Bertrand Meyer’s technology blog“, an vague e-book of doubtful circulation, in October of 2012. Rumored, devoid of independently proven facts, to have been in regular use within the early years of the twenty first century among foreign-born professors at the ETH Zurich.

choice hypotheses

Some researchers have hypothesized that the notice is involving the “Unified Modeling Language” (or “UML“, hence the suggestion), below the argument that the use of UML for a challenge is corresponding to having a bet on its success at the lottery. there is, besides the fact that children, no scholarly consensus in choose of this kind of connection.