Mark Twain's web browser

[Deviant Ollam]

Heh... maybe this is more suited to the social forum... hard to say. It's a strange question i have regarding idiosyncratic pronunciation. When i first heard this, i assumed it was just an old person who was confused or who had read Huck Finn a lot. When i heard it a second time, i raised an eyebrow. Now, years later... i've had at least half a dozen or more people make this pronunciation mistake and it boggles my mind...

How many of you have encountered people who call the world's second most popular web browser "Fox Fire" ?

I've heard this pronunciation mistake made by folk young and old, near and far. Occasionally the user is even somewhat computer literate. Have you ever encountered this, too? The main reason it boggles me so, i suppose, is that this is a very well-known vendor offering a web browser. That software, for the majority of users, may the one application they rely on more than any other in a single day.

To me, it's akin to someone in their kitchen who refers to a saucepan as a "pan sauce" or an individual working on their car out in the garage asking for a "wrench socket."

Just a head-scratcher. Heh, i wouldn't have thought to post something if i weren't on the forums at the same moment that someone called me with a problem and used the term in their first sentence.

[Thorn]

Re: Mark Twain's web browser

Heh... maybe this is more suited to the social forum... hard to say. It's a strange question i have regarding idiosyncratic pronunciation. When i first heard this, i assumed it was just an old person who was confused or who had read Huck Finn a lot. When i heard it a second time, i raised an eyebrow. Now, years later... i've had at least half a dozen or more people make this pronunciation mistake and it boggles my mind...

How many of you have encountered people who call the world's second most popular web browser "Fox Fire" ?

I've heard this pronunciation mistake made by folk young and old, near and far. Occasionally the user is even somewhat computer literate. Have you ever encountered this, too? The main reason it boggles me so, i suppose, is that this is a very well-known vendor offering a web browser. That software, for the majority of users, may the one application they rely on more than any other in a single day.

To me, it's akin to someone in their kitchen who refers to a saucepan as a "pan sauce" or an individual working on their car out in the garage asking for a "wrench socket."

Just a head-scratcher. Heh, i wouldn't have thought to post something if i weren't on the forums at the same moment that someone called me with a problem and used the term in their first sentence.

I hear it mainly from lusers. I would assume that they heard about the fungi when they were young, and the word order just stuck with them. It seems to be that they have the association of the two words in that order, and they just can't reverse it.

[theprez98]

Re: Mark Twain's web browser

heh, I was going to joke that they were confusing the browser with a Clint Eastwood movie, and then I realized that even I had the movie name backwards. :surprised

[xor]

Re: Mark Twain's web browser

You don't know this? I-I know something
about history that you don't know.

I'd be very excited to learn about it, Riley.

Well, hold on one second, let me just...
let me just take in this moment.

This is... this is cool.

Is this how you feel all the time? Because,
you know... Except for now, of course.

- Riley!
- All right.

http://www.ausairpower.net/TE-Foxbat-Foxhound-92.html

Foxfire is the NATO designation for a Soviet radar system; see The MiG-25P Foxbat A.

xor

[xor]

Re: Mark Twain's web browser

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxfire_%281996_film%29

Foxfire is also 1996 movie starring Angelina Jolie and a book.

xor

Foxfire is a 1996 movie based on the Joyce Carol Oates novel Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang. The film follows the coming of age of four high school girls who meet up with a mysterious and beautiful drifter. errr chick flick, didn't see it.

[Thorn]

Re: Mark Twain's web browser

Clint Eastwood blowing up Russki Commies while flying a Mach 6 super fighter vs Angelina Jolie in a chick flick? Hmmm, which one will make movie night?

Ok, OK! But only if she wears skimpy clothes!

[xor]

Re: Mark Twain's web browser

Clint Eastwood blowing up Russki Commies while flying a Mach 6 super fighter vs Angelina Jolie in a chick flick? Hmmm, which one will make movie night?

Ok, OK! But only if she wears skimpy clothes!

But Clint's movie was Firefox, unless you are doing it too:

The:

Mikoyan MiG-31 (fictional)
For the real aircraft of this designation, see Mikoyan MiG-31.
The MiG-31 Firefox, as seen in the movie
Firefox seen in 1982

The MiG-31 (МиГ-31 in Cyrillic script), NATO reporting name "Firefox", is a fictional aircraft appearing in Craig Thomas' novels Firefox and Firefox Down, as well as the Clint Eastwood movie based on the former.

The Firefox is an interceptor aircraft with stealth capabilities, to the point that it is invisible to radar. It is powered by two incredibly powerful "Turmansky" (a probable misspelling of Tumansky) turbo-ramjet engines that permit flight at hypersonic speeds, but their exhaust gives the Firefox a prominent infrared signature. The Firefox's most famous feature is its Thought-Controlled Weapons System, which uses signals from the pilot's brain to target enemies and fire weapons; however, it only responds to commands thought in Russian. The Firefox's weapons consist of up to four AA-6 Acrid air-to-air missiles (modified for thought guidance), two 23 mm cannons, and four Rear Defense Pods, which fire an explosive charge at a pursuing aircraft or missile.

Other capabilities of the Firefox include a 3,000-mile (4,800 km) range and a flight ceiling over 120,000 feet (37,000 m). To give the pilot full situational awareness the aircraft also includes a camera system that allows the pilot to see images ahead of, below, and directly behind the aircraft on his console. Mitchell Gant uses this system several times during his flight to keep track of missiles, and other aircraft pursuing him.

Two production prototypes were built before it was to be deployed into active service for the Soviet Air Force. The first prototype was stolen by Mitchell Gant operating on behalf of the Western intelligence community. The second prototype intercepted Gant and the two aircraft entered into combat with Gant destroying his adversary.

In Firefox Down, it is revealed the remaining prototype's fuel lines were ruptured in the dogfight that concluded the previous novel and the aircraft crash-lands in Finland. One of the plot lines of Firefox Down is the race between the Soviets and Western Intelligence to recover the aircraft submerged in a frozen Finnish lake.

The Firefox's appearance differs between the first novel and film. The version in the novel resembles a MiG-25 Foxbat, much like the real MiG-31 Foxhound.

Cockpit scenes used shots from a F4 Phantom and T-38 Talon.

I bet this more than anyone ever cared to know about the subject. I love the web.

xor