Did the guy who named Uranus understand what he was doing?

Question

Did the guy who named Uranus understand what he was doing?

Answer 1

No, I don't think so because it sounds wrong. But I heard they changed the pronunciation. This is how you say it: (UR-UH-NISS)

Answer 2

its prunounced ( ur-un-us)

not a**s

its just a misunderstanding

Answer 3

No, because it is pronounced Yur A Nus, not your a**s.

Answer 4

It was named Uranus after the Greek god (like all other planets are named by ancient gods) and the name got selected after a long process.

Initially, the name was "Georgium Sidus" (George's star) in favor of king George III of Britain. Of course, people outside Britain did not like the name and Bode, a German, suggested the name Uranus, the romanized form of Ouranus, the Greek god of the sky. Of course, he did not do that without personal interests: His own astronomical atlas was named "Uranographia".

in 1850, 70 years after it's discovery, "Georgium Sidus" became named officially Uranus.

Now, why was that no problem for the people?

Because at that time, the mental illness we now call chat language was not existing - people had been able to write "Your" and not "UR".

Also, only doctors had been using "a**s" in their language. And who spends lot's of time with people who studied medicine should know, that doctors know far more annoying Latin jokes, when they want to rant about annoying patients.  

Answer 5

HELLZZZ NAHHHH

Answer 6

haha thats a really funny question. i think he did tho. im pretty sure the words means something but im not quite sure what lol. search it up on google.

Answer 7

Johann Elert Bode actually suggested the name in the late 1700s, so as to make it relate to greek/roman gods as the previous planets had taken their namesake. (Uranus was a greek god) It caught on, but later generations with dirtier minds took notice of its surprising similarity to the words 'your a**s' in English, resulting in the bad pun we all know today.

Answer 8

Yes, he was laughing his *** off at those that did not get the joke.

Answer 9

I think it's great.  It's either your rear end or something that comes out.

But i no longer do the klingons and Uranus jokes.  I like this one:

Did you know that you can fit 64 Earths inside Uranus?

Answer 10

probly not! ur cute!

Answer 11

It was named by a brit so i guess he must have known.

he originally wanted to call saturn ringpeice world but was not allowed

Answer 12

yes

It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky (Uranus, Οὐρανός), the father of Kronos (Saturn) and grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter).  

Answer 13

He probally named it as a joke..LOL

Answer 14

My guess is probably. Or do you mean to imply that you think he made the planet's name intentionally sound like "your a**s"? Think about it: the planet has been so named for thousands of years, and was named in another language from ours. That language is Greek (although it has been suggested that it actually goes back to Ugaritic), and the word is pronounced oo-rah-nos. It means, "the heavens" in Greek.  

Answer 15

It was his last name.

Answer 16

its named after a greek god

Answer 17

No it it's named after the sea god posiedon in greek mythology or obviously uranus in rome. that's definitely a funny subject in school though.

Answer 18

Of course...because the name comes from the Greek god personifying heaven.  I know it sounds funny in English but in Creek the sound has no funny sound!

Answer 19

maybe he did or maybe he didnt. that would be pretty funny if like when he was naming it he was like "hey you know what would be funny? if we put the word a**s in this planet's name!" that would be pretty funny.

Answer 20

It was named by William Herschel and he wanted to call it George!

Just to clarify conflicting answers - Uranus is Greek not Roman. It's the only planet named for a Greek god (the others ARE Roman). And it is indeed father of Saturn/Kronos and Grandfather of Jupiter/Zeus.

The Roman name is Caelus - which with hindsight - would have been better...

Answer 21

lol! however you pronounce it, it's still funny! he had to have been pissed! and clever!...kinda like...,"you all thought i was crazy, didn't ya!?, well, there! in yer face!"

Answer 22

proably not everyone has a preverted mind..... it probably means somthing more scientific then ur a**s.....lol

hope that helps

will you help me??

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

Answer 23

uranus is the name of a god in case you did not know

and this is a bit immature.

And people were not immature back then. Even that now it is an all around joke, it wasn't disgusting back then

Answer 24

Strange as it may seem it's pronounced, er-ran-us. Told you it was strange but if you ask me it's a bit like the "kiss me Hardy" business. Another load of waffle.

Answer 25

It's Greek...so i guess he did.

Answer 26

How can we know.  Probably not.  Who is that guy by the way, is he still alive?

Answer 27

lol you're cute.

Answer 28

Uranus, also known as Ouranos, was the embodiment of the sky or heavens, and known as the god of the sky.

Correct pronunciation is "YOOR a nus.

The name "Uranus" was first proposed by Bode in conformity with the other planetary names from classical mythology but didn't come into common use until 1850.  He probably didn't anticipate that it would become a puerile joke about 125 yrears later.

Answer 29

People take Uranus pretty seriously which isn't fair because it makes it to easy for so many punchlines.

Someone on Y!A in the astronomy section asked this question:

"I'm curious to what you think about probing mars?"

                     (left the door wide open for my reposnse)

"Its better than probing Uranus!" (hahahaha!)

I couldn't stop laughing but the Astronomy crowd didn't think it was to funny. I don't think people should be so touchy about Uranus.

  

I guess I'm childish. I am 34 years old and I still giggle when I hear people talk about Uranus. (giggle!)

Answer 30

Considering Uranus is the ancient Greek deity of the sky, I think it was intentional.

Answer 31

At the time I'm sure he found nothing wrong with it. Now-a-days society finds it funny. Shows how the times have changed!