Grant dishes up the latest language headlines from around the world, including names so weird they sparked legal action. Two New Zealand parents really did name their daughter “Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii.” Also, what’s wrong with using a word that’s perfectly cromulent?
Transcript of “Language Headlines (minicast)”
We’re delighted that you’re listening to A Way with Words by podcast, but if you’d also like to hear us on your local public radio station, why not tell them about it? Public radio does listen to its listeners. Just go to our website at waywordradio.org slash listen. You’ll find links to public radio stations nationwide. Look for yours and then send them a quick email about why you want to hear A Way with Words. And if you do, please take another moment to email us and let us know. That way we can follow up with your station and we can thank you personally. Now on with the show. This is the latest language news from A Way with Words.
I’m grant Barrett. Oh, what a difference a letter can make. The Moscow Times reports this week that Tatiana Tetrachina was stripped of her Russian citizenship because a government clerk’s typewriter was missing a single letter. Instead, a different vowel was used, making her Tetrachina rather than Tetrachina and making who she said she was and who her paper said she was disagree. Public outcry over the matter has since caused her citizenship to be reinstated. But Tatiana is still pursuing it in the Russian courts. In Slate magazine, Eugene Volokh takes a look at names that are so weird that they were brought before the courts. There’s the nine-year-old New Zealand girl named Tallulah does the hula from Hawaii. Yes, that’s the entire name.
There’s someone named they th e y. There’s Darren Lloyd Bean spelled Darren Qx Bean and more Santa clauses than a Santa Claus convention. Caroline winter fills in for William sapphire in the New York Times magazine where she discusses why we capitalize the pronoun I. She says in short, the lowercase I is hard to see on the page. But an uppercase I is a cinch to read. She suggests just for a little self humbling that we capitalize you. Why oh you instead?
Also in the New York Times, Nicholson Baker gives a favorable review to am and Shay’s book reading the OED in which he spent an entire year reading the print version of the second edition of the Oxford English dictionary. Baker calls the book oddly inspiring and says the effect of this book on me was to make me like am and Shay and briefly to hate English. Finally, dictionary editor Erin McKean asks in the Boston Globe why people use a word and then sheepishly wonder if it is really a word. She writes whenever I see not a real word used to stigmatize.
What is usually a perfectly cromulent word, I wonder why the writer felt the need to hang a big sign reading.
I am not confident about my writing on it. What do they imagine the penalty is for using an unreal word? A ticket from the dictionary police?
Cromulent, by the way, is a made-up word from the Simpsons. It means good or fine and okay fine. That’s all for this week’s language headlines.
You can find links to all of these stories on the discussion forum of A Way with Words, public radio’s weekly call-in show about language. Find it at waywordradio.org for A Way with Words.
I’m grant Barrett. Support for A Way with Words comes from word smart, the vocabulary building software. Improving your vocabulary, reading comprehension, and critical thinking skills will increase your chances for success. Learn more online at word smart TV and from I universe, supported self-publishing.
Is there a book in you? Find out how to publish it at 1-800 authors or learn more online at I universe calm. blank_audio
To be automatically notified when audio is available, subscribe to the podcast using iTunes or another podcatching program.
Oh, what a difference a letter can make! The Moscow Times reports this week that Tatyana Tetyorkina was stripped of her Russian citizenship because a government clerk’s typewriter was missing a single letter. Instead, a different vowel was used, making her Teterkina rather than Tetyorkina—and making who she said she was and who her papers said she was disagree. Public outcry over the matter has since caused her citizenship to be reinstated, but Tatyana is still pursuing it in the Russian courts.
In Slate magazine, Eugene Volokh takes a look at names that are so weird that they were brought before the courts. There’s the nine-year-old New Zealand girl named Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii. Yes, that’s the entire name. There’s someone named They T-H-E-Y, there’s Darren Lloyd Bean, spelled Darren Q-X Bean, and more Santa Clauses than a Santa Claus convention.
Caroline Winter fills in for William Safire in the New York Times Magazine, where she discusses why we capitalize the pronoun “I.” She says, in short, that a lowercase I is hard to see on the page, but an uppercase I is a cinch to read. She suggests, just for a little self-humbling, that we capitalize you, Y-O-U, instead.
Also in the New York Times, Nicholson Baker gives a favorable review to Ammon Shea’s book, Reading the OED, in which he spent an entire year reading the print version of the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Baker calls the book “oddly inspiring” and says, “The effect of this book on me was to make me like Ammon Shea and, briefly, to hate English.”
Finally, dictionary editor Erin McKean asks in the Boston Globe why people use a word and then sheepishly wonder if it is really a word. She writes, “Whenever I see ‘not a real word’ used to stigmatize what is (usually) a perfectly cromulent word, I wonder why the writer felt the need to hang a big sign reading ‘I am not confident about my writing’ on it. What do they imagine the penalty is for using an ‘unreal’ word? A ticket from the Dictionary Police?” “Cromulent,” by the way, is a made-up word from The Simpsons. It means good or fine.
Okay, fine. That’s all for this week’s language headlines.
