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Re:Wiz Joins Google by darth_aardvark on Wednesday March 11, 2026 @01:09PM (#47338265)
Unlikely, since modern Hebrew doesn't have a letter for "w".
Re:Wiz Joins Google by 1-more on Wednesday March 11, 2026 @02:44PM (#47339529)
It has vav which gets transliterated as v, u, o, or w. How does the average modern Hebrew speaker pronounce these company names in a sentence? Vix, Vayz, Viz? Is the "w" transliteration an example of Latin to Hebrew transliteration but not vice-versa?
Re:Wiz Joins Google by edanm on Wednesday March 11, 2026 @03:57PM (#47340475)
It's pronounced the same as in English. Wiz, Waze, Wix. It's written with "double vav" in Hebrew, not just a single vav which would make it read as Viz.
Re:Wiz Joins Google by 1-more on Wednesday March 11, 2026 @04:54PM (#47341593)
tysm
Re:Wiz Joins Google by null_deref on Wednesday March 11, 2026 @07:28PM (#47343945)
Yes, but it’s fair to say that this is a foreign language vowel even though we do not have problem to pronounce
Re:Wiz Joins Google by bonesss on Wednesday March 11, 2026 @01:23PM (#47338452)
Is it possible the foreignness makes ‘W’ appealing as it signals cool modern tech alignment or something?

Like how ‘X’ attracts marketing and typographic knuckle-draggers in English, or how all our AI companies have butthole logos for reasons that only make sense if you understand the underlying companies and culture.

Re:Wiz Joins Google by darth_aardvark on Wednesday March 11, 2026 @02:28PM (#47339309)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_of_Israel#W

There's 5 of them, two of which happen to have been acquired by Google. Fair to say it's likely a coincidence.

Interestingly, they all use "vav vav" as the start of their Hebrew names. "Vav" is the hebrew letter for V, so it's kind of like using VV to represent W.

Maybe you're right, and it's a stylistic thing! My knowledge of Hebrew ends in Hebrew school, and that mostly focused on blessing and prayers over startup naming.

Re:Wiz Joins Google by edanm on Wednesday March 11, 2026 @04:00PM (#47340538)
Despite commenting on this literally five seconds ago in the sibling comment, I hadn't made the connection that if "vav" is V, then using "vav vav" is like "VV" which is like "W". I wonder if this is a real thing.

In any case, I'm pretty sure it's just a coincidence, I don't think it's a stylistic thing, unless I'm missing something.

Re:Wiz Joins Google by 0_____0 on Wednesday March 11, 2026 @01:54PM (#47338873)
Oof, you got me there!