And another thing: where the hell does "Colon" Powell come from?
David Nebenzahl
Since when is Colin pronounced the same as the lower part of the digestive
tract? Is this another creeping British-ism in the U.S? Do Britons pronounce
this name that way? And if it's wrong, why hasn't Gen'l Powell corrected it?
Or has he tried, and failed? So many questions...
Ralph M Jones
General Powell's parents immigrated to the US before his birth.
He responds to either pronunciation of his name but uses the one that
you referred to. That pronunciation _might_ have become the predominant
pronunciation in the US for the same reason that Colin Powell adopted
it, Colin Kelly, the WWII pronounced his name that way.
Markus Laker
Ralph M Jones <rmj...@hal-pc.org>:
Colin Kelly, the WWII *what*? And was he one of yours or one of ours?
Here in England, the man's name 'Colin' is normally pronounced /'kA.lIn/
(think of Patrick Stewart saying 'COLL-in') while 'colon' is /'k@UlA.n/
(COE-lon). Colin Powell's first name is usually quoted here as
/'k@UlIn/ (COE-lin); this is the first I've heard to the contrary.
The text quoted above (which is all I've seen of this thread so far)
suggests that David pronounces 'colon' and General Powell's first name
as /'koUl@n/ (COE-l'n). That's the only way I can imagine the '-in' and
'-on' sounding alike.
Markus Laker.
--
If you quote me, I would appreciate an email copy of your article.
Steve Lewin
In message <5cbln0$i...@news.aimnet.com>
n...@microtech.com (David Nebenzahl) writes:
> Since when is Colin pronounced the same as the lower part of the digestive
> tract? Is this another creeping British-ism in the U.S? Do Britons pronounce
> this name that way? And if it's wrong, why hasn't Gen'l Powell corrected it?
> Or has he tried, and failed? So many questions...
1. It isn't pronounced like that to my ear. I don't know where you
come from but most English speakers I know can distinguish "in" and "on".
2. It's certainly not British. In fact the first time I heard of the
guy it didn't occur to me that his name was "Colin". I assumed it was
one of the sort of mangled names that I tend to associate with
California and film/television actors. Jerrammy, Krrystell, that sort
of thing. Something like 'Coleyn' perhaps.
But hey, I assume that's how he pronounces it. He can call himself
anything he likes. If he wants to spell his name Zit and pronounce it
Arthur all he has to do is persuade a few others to go along with the gag.
Steve
(The person formerly known as Steve, now pronounced "Hey you, the
dozy one" but you can still write it as Steve)
Christopher Perrott
Keith C. Ivey wrote:
>
> I don't
> even know whether Colleen is a name (as opposed to an Irish
> common noun) in the UK.
>
It is, but it's unusual. I went to university in England and one of
my fellow students was a Colleen. She was English.
--
Chris Perrott
Lee Lester
Pronouncing Colin as colon is definitely not a Britishism no more than
Cecil being pronounced Ceecil or Bernard being pronounced Ber-nard. But
does anyone remember how Uranus was converted into Ur-an-us because
some latter-day Puritan thought it sounded too much like 'your anus.'
Keith C. Ivey
la...@tcp.co.uk (Markus Laker) wrote:
>Here in England, the man's name 'Colin' is normally pronounced /'kA.lIn/
>(think of Patrick Stewart saying 'COLL-in') while 'colon' is /'k@UlA.n/
>(COE-lon).
In the US, "Colin" is generally /'kA lIn/ or /'kA l@n/ (I don't
think there's a distinction between /I/ and /@/ in unstressed
syllables for most people).
General Powell's first name is /'koU lIn/ or /'koU l@n/ and is
thus homophonous with "colon" for most Americans. I don't know
whether this reflects the usual pronunciation in Jamaica, where
I believe his parents come from.
I have an aunt named Colleen who pronounces her name /,koU 'lin/
(as if it were spelled "Colene"). Everyone else with that name
in the US seems to pronounce it /,kA 'lin/, however. I don't
even know whether Colleen is a name (as opposed to an Irish
common noun) in the UK.
I hadn't realized that British speakers used something other
than a schwa in the last syllable of "colon". It seems
inconsistent with their pronunciation of "python" (/'paI T@n/),
which is distinguished from the American pronunciation
(/'paI ,tAn/) by the reduction of the last syllable. Why does
"colon" go the other way?
(Of course, then there's UK /'kA.n ,dA.m/ versus US /'kAn d@m/.)
[posted and mailed]
Keith C. Ivey <kci...@cpcug.org> Washington, DC
Contributing Editor/Webmaster
The Editorial Eye <http://www.eeicom.com/eye/>
Mark Odegard
[Posted, e-mailed] On Mon, 27 Jan 1997 04:46:17 GMT,
kci...@cpcug.org (Keith C. Ivey) in
<32ee2fe3...@newsreader.digex.net> wrote
>General Powell's first name is /'koU lIn/ or /'koU l@n/ and is
>thus homophonous with "colon" for most Americans. I don't know
>whether this reflects the usual pronunciation in Jamaica, where
>I believe his parents come from.
I remember a NY Times piece on the subject. Powell spend a large
chunk of his childhood in The Bronx. Apparently, there is a WWII
certified hero named Colin P. Kelly (or something like that),
"Colin" here being *locally pronounced* as a homophone of
"colon". Pre-Bronx, Powell pronounced his first like like any
good Brit, thereafter, it was modelled after the hero's.
The name is unusual, or was, and looking at it, it seems it
should be pronounced as in colon, while "Collin" would represent
the British version.
--
Mark Odegard ode...@ptel.net
[e-mailed copies of responses to my postings are welcomed]
The great orthographical contest has long subsisted between
etymology and pronunciation. It has been demanded, on one hand,
that men should write as they speak; but, as it has been shown
that this conformity never was attained in any language, and
that it is not more easy to persuade men to agree exactly in
speaking than in writing, it may be asked, with equal propriety,
why men do not rather speak as they write.
-- Samuel Johnson, "The Plan of an English Dictionary" (1747).
Duncan Gibson
Lee Lester <lee.l...@guildnet.org> wrote:
>Pronouncing Colin as colon is definitely not a Britishism no more than
>Cecil being pronounced Ceecil or Bernard being pronounced Ber-nard.
I heard an interview with Colin Powell where he stated that his name
was actually pronounced "collin" but that at some point a certain group
of people started using the "co-lin" pronunciation and he was never
really able to persuade them otherwise and it stuck.
As for Cecil, there are examples of "Ceecil" in the UK. There is a
stately home which is where "the Ceecils of wherever" live. They are
vaguely famous for something, but I forget what.
Cheers
Duncan
This is my article, not my employer's, with my opinions and my disclaimer!
--
Duncan Gibson, ESTEC/YCV, Postbus 299, 2200AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 71 5654013 Fax: +31 71 5656142 Email: dun...@yc.estec.esa.nl
Markus Laker
kci...@cpcug.org (Keith C. Ivey):
> I hadn't realized that British speakers used something other
> than a schwa in the last syllable of "colon".
As a quick sanity check, I looked up 'colon' in COD9. To my surprise I
found that, when it's a punctuation mark, Oxford wants me to say
/'k@U l@n/; when it's a part of the bowel I am also allowed
/'k@U lA.n/. 'Semicolon', confusingly, may be pronounced in either
fashion.
So much for that. What I normally hear and use is /'k@U ,lA.n/, and I
work in an office, not an operating theatre. We'll have to treat this
as another phonemic difference between RP and the dialects that most
Britons use.
> It seems
> inconsistent with their pronunciation of "python" (/'paI T@n/),
> which is distinguished from the American pronunciation
> (/'paI ,tAn/) by the reduction of the last syllable. Why does
> "colon" go the other way?
One could speculate that, as colons drop out of fashion and people
become less familiar with them, the word 'colon' is pronounced more
carefully on the rare occasions when it does get an outing. That would
tally with the variation in pronunciation between the two meanings of
the word: the typical RP speaker of fifty years ago was more familiar
with punctuation marks than with the structure of the large intestine.
I was going to write 'most still are', but a surprising number of RP
speakers these days are doctors or other medical professionals.
By the way, did you mean to write the American pronunciation as
/'paI ,TAn/ with a /T/?
> (Of course, then there's UK /'kA.n ,dA.m/ versus US /'kAn d@m/.)
I was born in 1965 and left London to start a University course in 1984,
so my evidence on this next point may be unreliable. Nevertheless, my
impression is that 'condom' was popularised by health campaigners trying
to prevent the spread of AIDS in the eighties. Prior to that, they were
known officially by such stuffy terms as 'contraceptive sheath' and
popularly by slang words such as 'rubber Johnny' or the trade name
'Durex'. Confirmation or correction would be welcome.
Was 'condom' popular in the US long before it was well-known over here?
Markus Laker.
[Posted and mailed.]
Bob Cunningham
la...@tcp.co.uk (Markus Laker) said:
[...]
>I was born in 1965 and left London to start a University course in 1984,
>so my evidence on this next point may be unreliable. Nevertheless, my
>impression is that 'condom' was popularised by health campaigners trying
>to prevent the spread of AIDS in the eighties. Prior to that, they were
>known officially by such stuffy terms as 'contraceptive sheath' and
>popularly by slang words such as 'rubber Johnny' or the trade name
>'Durex'. Confirmation or correction would be welcome.
I was familiar with the word "condom" during World War II, although
I may have learned it from my fellow scholars in high school with an
erroneous pronunciation something like /'kVn dr@m/ ("kundrum"). The
word that was used by the authorities, though, was "prophylactic". The
military in foreign ports had "prophylactic station"s on street corners,
where a sinner could pick up a "pro" before visiting the local brothel.
Bob Cunningham
la...@tcp.co.uk (Markus Laker) said:
[...]
> [Condoms] were
>known officially by such stuffy terms as 'contraceptive sheath' and
>popularly by slang words such as 'rubber Johnny' or the trade name
>'Durex'. Confirmation or correction would be welcome.
The name "Durex" was mentioned in an a.u.e. thread sometime in the
past couple of years. I also found it in another forum a year or so
before that. An interesting sidelight is that the word "durex" in
Australia, if I remember correctly, refers to some sort of sticky tape.
On both occasions I wondered about the perplexity of an Australian
lover on being told by the British object of his affection, "Right, but
first apply the Durex".
Lee Lester
> [Condoms] were
>known officially by such stuffy terms as 'contraceptive sheath' and
>popularly by slang words such as 'rubber Johnny' or the trade name
>'Durex'.
An evergreen youngsters' riddle in the UK is: 'How many letters are
there in the English language?'
The usual answer: 'Twenty-six.'
That produces: "Oh no. There are only 21. D, U, R, E and X are French
letters."
Dale Williams
Duncan Gibson wrote:
>
>
> As for Cecil, there are examples of "Ceecil" in the UK. There is a
> stately home which is where "the Ceecils of wherever" live. They are
> vaguely famous for something, but I forget what.
>
>
general use as a Christian name, pronounce it "Sissil". As a female
name, Cecily was pronounced "Sissily".
"Sessil" has been an alternative pronunciation since (I believe) about
Edwardian times, but it could be older. Anyone remember the 1930s song:
"I'm knitting a singlet for Cecil
A nice woolly singlet for Cecil
He'll be as snug as a bug in a rug
As in its embrace he will nestle...".
I've never heard of "Ceecil". Could it be as American as "Colon?"
Dale
Gregory Resch
kci...@cpcug.org (Keith C. Ivey) writes:
> . . ."Ceecil" is the normal US
> pronunciation, whereas Colin Powell's pronunciation of his
> first name is as strange to most Americans as it is to you. . . .
For what it's worth (my having skipped most of this thread so far), during
David Frost's televised interview with Colin Powell, broadcast in the U.S.
not an hour ago, Powell pronounced his name as kAH-lin (sorry--I don't
do IPA) while Frost pronounced it kOH-lin . I thought that rather odd,
Frost himself being (expatriate) British. But, knowing his audience, he
may have used the American pronunciation deliberately.
Powell mentioned that he thinks of himself as West Indian. (He meant
extraction, not allegiance.) Could that explain the difference?
--
If none of this makes any sense, please burn this message before reading
it.
Keith C. Ivey
Dale Williams <word...@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:
>I've never heard of "Ceecil". Could it be as American as "Colon?"
More American than "Colon". "Ceecil" is the normal US
pronunciation, whereas Colin Powell's pronunciation of his
first name is as strange to most Americans as it is to you.
Also, Colin, however it's pronounced, is a fairly unusual name
in the US. But I think there was a spike in its popularity
within the past few decades, so it's not as British-sounding as
Nigel, for example.
According to the 1990 census name list at
http://www.census.gov/genealogy/www/freqnames.html, Cecil ranks
214th, Colin 378th, and Nigel 886th among names of American
males. (Keith is 59th, and Dale is 109th for males and 696th
for females.)
Ross Howard
lee.l...@guildnet.org (Lee Lester) wrote:
>The usual answer: 'Twenty-six.'
I think the only UK "youngsters" who still refer to condoms as "French
letters" must be around 65 years young (as Hughie Green used to say).
Ross Howard
Gareth Williams
Thus spake Dale Williams <word...@actrix.gen.nz> :
+ As a female
+name, Cecily was pronounced "Sissily".
In my experience, 'Cecily' is pronounced 'Sessily' and
'Cicely' (my mother's name) is pronounced 'Sissely'.
I have not heard anything but 'Sessil' for Cecil.
regards
Gareth Williams <g...@fmode.demon.co.uk>
Ross Howard
re...@cpcug.org (Gregory Resch) wrote:
>For what it's worth (my having skipped most of this thread so far), during
>David Frost's televised interview with Colin Powell, broadcast in the U.S.
>not an hour ago, Powell pronounced his name as kAH-lin (sorry--I don't
>do IPA) while Frost pronounced it kOH-lin . I thought that rather odd,
>Frost himself being (expatriate) British. But, knowing his audience, he
>may have used the American pronunciation deliberately.
Wouldn't put it past him.
To put a new twist on an old thread, do any American Robins pronounce
their name as "ROE-bin", or is the phenomenon limited to Colin?
And while we're at it, another couple of Cecilisms that I haven't seen
mentioned yet are "Maurice" and "Bernard" -- generally "Morris" and
"BUR-nud" in the UK; "muh-REECE" and "buhr-NARD" (I think) in the US.
Ross Howard
Ralph M Jones
Ross Howard wrote:
>
> To put a new twist on an old thread, do any American Robins pronounce
> their name as "ROE-bin", or is the phenomenon limited to Colin?
>
> And while we're at it, another couple of Cecilisms that I haven't seen
> mentioned yet are "Maurice" and "Bernard" -- generally "Morris" and
> "BUR-nud" in the UK; "muh-REECE" and "buhr-NARD" (I think) in the US.
>
> Ross Howard
How about G. B. Shaw? I've always thought of him as a NARD. I don't
think that I can adjust to nud.
Keith C. Ivey
rho...@valnet.es (Ross Howard) wrote:
>To put a new twist on an old thread, do any American Robins pronounce
>their name as "ROE-bin", or is the phenomenon limited to Colin?
I've never heard /'roU bIn/, and the /'koU lIn/ pronunciation is
limited to Colin Powell (and, apparently, one earlier general).
Other American Colins are /'kA lIn/ (except for whatever babies
have been named after Powell since he's become prominent).
The real transatlantic difference is that most American Robins
are women.
>And while we're at it, another couple of Cecilisms that I haven't seen
>mentioned yet are "Maurice" and "Bernard" -- generally "Morris" and
>"BUR-nud" in the UK; "muh-REECE" and "buhr-NARD" (I think) in the US.
You're right there. Maurice is pretty rare in the US, though,
probably because people think it sounds effeminate. Those named
/'mOr Is/ generally spell it Morris.
Ranks of male names from 1990 US census data (see
http://www.census.gov/genealogy/www/namesearch.html):
Colin 378
Robin 375 (100 for women)
Cecil 214 (1338 for women)
Bernard 142
Maurice 184 (2746 for women)
Morris 278
I guess Maurice is more common than I thought.
Brian J Goggin
On Wed, 05 Feb 1997 16:43:21 -0600, Ralph M Jones <rmj...@hal-pc.org>
wrote:
>Ross Howard wrote:
[...]
>> And while we're at it, another couple of Cecilisms that I haven't seen
>> mentioned yet are "Maurice" and "Bernard" -- generally "Morris" and
>> "BUR-nud" in the UK; "muh-REECE" and "buhr-NARD" (I think) in the US.
>How about G. B. Shaw? I've always thought of him as a NARD. I don't
>think that I can adjust to nud.
But he was Irish, not British.
bjg
Daan Sandee
In article <5daq3j$d6v$1...@diana.ibernet.es> rho...@valnet.es writes:
>re...@cpcug.org (Gregory Resch) wrote:
>
>To put a new twist on an old thread, do any American Robins pronounce
>their name as "ROE-bin", or is the phenomenon limited to Colin?
American Robins [Turdus migratorius] only say "tweet tweet." Though
closely related to the blackbird [Turdus merula] of Europe, and though
bearing the name of the unrelated robin [Erithacus rubecula] of Europe,
both of which are beautiful singers, Robins can't sing worth a damn.
>And while we're at it, another couple of Cecilisms that I haven't seen
>mentioned yet are "Maurice" and "Bernard" -- generally "Morris" and
>"BUR-nud" in the UK; "muh-REECE" and "buhr-NARD" (I think) in the US.
"moh-REECE", I think. The number of R's pronounced in "Bernard" depends
on the speaker's rhoticity. I think the RP for G.B.shaw is "Buhn'd."
Daan Sandee
Burlington, MA Use this email address: sandee (at) cmns . think . com
Ralph M Jones
Brian J Goggin wrote:
>
> On Wed, 05 Feb 1997 16:43:21 -0600, Ralph M Jones <rmj...@hal-pc.org>
> wrote:
>
> >Ross Howard wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> >> mentioned yet are "Maurice" and "Bernard" -- generally "Morris" and
> >> "BUR-nud" in the UK; "muh-REECE" and "buhr-NARD" (I think) in the US.
>
> >think that I can adjust to nud.
>
> But he was Irish, not British.
>
> bjg
I've always thought of him as Irish by birth but ethnically British. Is
there that much difference in the way that proper names are pronounced
between the two groups?
Do you have any thoughts on how Shaw might have used the word "ethnic"
if he would have used it at all?
rmj
Brian J Goggin
On Thu, 06 Feb 1997 10:01:11 -0600, Ralph M Jones <rmj...@hal-pc.org>
wrote:
[...]
>> >How about G. B. Shaw? I've always thought of him as a NARD. I don't
>> >think that I can adjust to nud.
>>
>> But he was Irish, not British.
>I've always thought of him as Irish by birth but ethnically British. Is
>there that much difference in the way that proper names are pronounced
>between the two groups?
He was an Irish Protestant, with a recognisable Dublin Protestant
accent, who spent most of his life in England. He's described in the
Oxford Companion to Irish Literature as "an iconoclast with an Irish
sense of distance from the English life he enjoyed and mocked". I
don't think you could describe him as ethnically British unless you
believe that the descendants of the planters are not Irish.
The trustees of his estate have just extracted two million dollars
from (I think) CBS as royalties for 'My Fair Lady'; that means about
IR£300,000 for the National Gallery of Ireland.
I've heard both pronunciations of 'Bernard' used in Ireland.
>Do you have any thoughts on how Shaw might have used the word "ethnic"
>if he would have used it at all?
I don't know. He might have written a play about the horrors of ethnic
cleansing in Yugoslavia (and elsewhere).
bjg
Gregory Resch
san...@sun.nospam (Daan Sandee) writes:
In article <5daq3j$d6v$1...@diana.ibernet.es> rho...@valnet.es writes:
>re...@cpcug.org (Gregory Resch) wrote:
>
>To put a new twist on an old thread, do any American Robins pronounce
>their name as "ROE-bin", or is the phenomenon limited to Colin?
<snip>
A careful scrutiny of those lines will reveal, as it should, that there's
nothing of mine in there. Good of you to edit quotes down; but watch the
attributions, please.
--
Gwen Lenker
Daan Sandee <san...@sun.nospam> wrote in article
<5dcpg8$m...@walters.East.Sun.COM>...
>
> American Robins [Turdus migratorius] only say "tweet tweet." Though
> closely related to the blackbird [Turdus merula] of Europe, and though
Oh, boy! "Genus Turdus" is going to come in *real* handy!
Dale Williams
Gareth Williams wrote:
>
> Thus spake Dale Williams <word...@actrix.gen.nz> :
>
> + As a female
> +name, Cecily was pronounced "Sissily".
>
> In my experience, 'Cecily' is pronounced 'Sessily' and
> 'Cicely' (my mother's name) is pronounced 'Sissely'.
>
> I have not heard anything but 'Sessil' for Cecil.
Cicely was the later spelling formed from the "Sissily" pronunciation,
but Cecily, the original spelling, was formed from the name of the
aristocratic Cecil family who pronounced their name 'Sissil'.
I have heard plenty of 'Sissils' for Cecil. It's one of my father's
names, and we have also had family friends from the UK with this name.
The 'Sessil" pronunciation definitely came later, so it's probably the
older users who retain the original pronunciation.
D.A.W.
SLHinton17
Alll of the U.S. Cecils I have known say "SEEs@l"
Sam Hinton
La Jolla, CA
N.Mitchum
SLHinton17 wrote:
----------
> Alll of the U.S. Cecils I have known say "SEEs@l"
I don't know nearly as many Cecils as you do, but the baseball player
Cecil Fielder is a SESS-ul.
--- NM
Truly Donovan
SLHinton17 wrote:
>
> Alll of the U.S. Cecils I have known say "SEEs@l"
Has to rhyme with "seasick," after all.
--
Truly Donovan
"Industrial-strength SGML," Prentice Hall 1996
ISBN 0-13-216243-1
http://www.prenhall.com
Thomas Schenk
SLHinton17 wrote:
>
> Alll of the U.S. Cecils I have known say "SEEs@l"
/'sEs@l/ B. DeMille, I think.
Tom
--
************************
Dr Thomas M Schenk
Laguna Beach, California
Gwen Lenker
Jeffrey Nelson/ STILL AGIN' <jlne...@mole.uvm.edu> wrote in article
<Pine.OSF.3.93.97020...@mole.uvm.edu>...
> On Mon, 27 Jan 1997, Lee Lester wrote:
> *does anyone remember how Uranus was converted into Ur-an-us because
> *some latter-day Puritan thought it sounded too much like 'your anus.'
>
> Umm...please define "converted." Both pronunciations are currently
> accepted my my big dic(AHD) "Latter-day Puritan changes 'dirty
> term'" sounds like the start of a piece of urban folklore to me...
The way I heard it:
When a probe discovered rings around Uranus, the television newscasters
couldn't report the story without dissolving into hysterical laughter
unless they pronounced the planet's name with the accent on the first
syllable.
Larry Preuss
In article <19970207141...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
slhin...@aol.com (SLHinton17) wrote:
> Alll of the U.S. Cecils I have known say "SEEs@l"
> Sam Hinton
> La Jolla, CA
Cecil Fielder, plays for the Yankees, pronounces it 'sess-il; big guy,
bulky, strong, carries a bat. Do it his way.
Larry
--
Bill Shatzer
In a previous article, slhin...@aol.com (SLHinton17) says:
>Alll of the U.S. Cecils I have known say "SEEs@l"
Still, Mr. de Mille did not and Mr. Fielder does not. Both
gentlemen obtained a fair degree of fame in the US of A.
Cheers,
--
- Bill Shatzer bsha...@orednet.org -
"Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can say 'ni' at will to
old ladies."
Merideth Kelley
On Thu, 6 Feb 1997, Keith C. Ivey wrote:
> I've never heard /'roU bIn/, and the /'koU lIn/ pronunciation is
> limited to Colin Powell (and, apparently, one earlier general).
> Other American Colins are /'kA lIn/ (except for whatever babies
> have been named after Powell since he's become prominent).
Except, of course, for my friend Colin, who is in his mid-30's, never got
close to the rank of general, and is known to his friends as "Cole"
because his name is pronounced with a long "o" sound.
Hey, Truly, is this where I get to insert a "just because _you've_ never
met one..."?
Merideth Kelley
Truly Donovan
Hey, anyone who can misspell *both* her first name *and* her last name
can do anything she damn well pleases. (I know, I did this to you once
before, but it still delights me.)
J. Edward Sanchez
Truly Donovan <tr...@lunemere.com> wrote:
>Merideth Kelley wrote:
>> Merideth Kelley
>
>Hey, anyone who can misspell *both* her first name *and* her last name
>can do anything she damn well pleases. (I know, I did this to you once
>before, but it still delights me.)
You've got to be kidding if you think she misspells her own name. Her
name is whatever her parents decided to call her. OTOH, "Meredith
Kelly" (for example) *would* be a misspelling of her name.
Edward
--
J. Edward Sanchez <je...@lightlink.com>
http://www.spiresoft.com/ (SoftArts)
http://www.spiresoft.com/jess/ (Edward's Place)
Truly Donovan
J. Edward Sanchez wrote:
>
> Truly Donovan <tr...@lunemere.com> wrote:
>
> >Merideth Kelley wrote:
>
> >> Merideth Kelley
> >
> >Hey, anyone who can misspell *both* her first name *and* her last name
> >can do anything she damn well pleases. (I know, I did this to you once
> >before, but it still delights me.)
>
> You've got to be kidding if you think she misspells her own name. Her
> name is whatever her parents decided to call her. OTOH, "Meredith
> Kelly" (for example) *would* be a misspelling of her name.
Of course I was kidding. With a name like "Truly," I wouldn't be
kidding? Are you one of those people who requires a smiley to tell you
someone is kidding? You won't find 'em here.
J. Edward Sanchez
Truly Donovan <tr...@lunemere.com> wrote:
>J. Edward Sanchez wrote:
>>
>> Truly Donovan <tr...@lunemere.com> wrote:
>>
>> >Merideth Kelley wrote:
>>
>> >> Merideth Kelley
>> >
>> >Hey, anyone who can misspell *both* her first name *and* her last name
>> >can do anything she damn well pleases. (I know, I did this to you once
>> >before, but it still delights me.)
>>
>> You've got to be kidding if you think she misspells her own name. Her
>> name is whatever her parents decided to call her. OTOH, "Meredith
>> Kelly" (for example) *would* be a misspelling of her name.
>
>Of course I was kidding. With a name like "Truly," I wouldn't be
>kidding?
Truly you would. Just checking.
>Are you one of those people who requires a smiley to tell you
>someone is kidding? You won't find 'em here.
No, I'm not one of those people, but I do happen to find your extreme
aversion to smileys irrational to some extent. You *will* find them
here. :-)
John Cowan
Truly Donovan wrote:
> > Merideth Kelley
>
> Hey, anyone who can misspell *both* her first name *and* her last name
> can do anything she damn well pleases. (I know, I did this to you once
> before, but it still delights me.)
Well, Henry Fielding (I presume I don't need to explain who he is,
here in a.u.e?) was once talking to the Earl of Sumpnorother (Denbigh?),
whose family name was "Feilding", about how the distinction arose.
"I know not, my Lord", said Fielding, "unless it were that my
branch of the family first learned how to spell."
--
John Cowan co...@ccil.org
e'osai ko sarji la lojban
Merideth Kelley
On Mon, 10 Feb 1997, Truly Donovan wrote:
(I asked)> >
> > Hey, Truly, is this where I get to insert a "just because _you've_ never
> > met one..."?
> >
> > Merideth Kelley
>
> Hey, anyone who can misspell *both* her first name *and* her last name
> can do anything she damn well pleases. (I know, I did this to you once
> before, but it still delights me.)
>
> --
> Truly Donovan
> "Industrial-strength SGML," Prentice Hall 1996
> ISBN 0-13-216243-1
> http://www.prenhall.com
HA!! I'm saving this post in case I ever need or want permission to do as
I d. w. please. There it is in black and white!
Yes, dear ol' dad got me coming and going (and that's not counting
the difficulty some people have in figuring out which is my first name
and which my family name). It's a good thing
folks seldom had to deal with my name in its written form while I was in
Britain--especially in Wales. "Kelley" isn't unheard of, but "Merideth"?
On the other hand, the unique spelling makes it that much easier to ignore
unwanted or unpleasant missives addressed to some other Meredith or Kelly.
Just hope my department gets it right in time to spell it correctly on my
degree!
Merideth Kelley
Matthew Rabuzzi
J. Edward Sanchez <je...@lightlink.com> responds to Truly Donovan:
: No, I'm not one of those people, but I do happen to find your extreme
: aversion to smileys irrational to some extent. You *will* find them
: here. :-)
The rest of your post appears to come from pique, so what's this ":-)"
-- baring fangs in malice, attempting to mend fences and defuse anger,
claiming that emotional displays and/or emoticons are rational,
or what?
I'm not being deliberately obtuse; it's that I don't find your
meaning clear. (Whereas the fact that Truly was only ribbing
Merideth about her spelling was blazingly obvious to me.)
...............................................
"Amor vinculum omnes," said the Macron of Honor
Matthew Rabuzzi
J. Edward Sanchez
Matthew Rabuzzi <"rabuzzi@+remove+"@loc251.tandem.com> wrote:
>J. Edward Sanchez <je...@lightlink.com> responds to Truly Donovan:
>: No, I'm not one of those people, but I do happen to find your extreme
>: aversion to smileys irrational to some extent. You *will* find them
>: here. :-)
>
>Say, J., I honestly don't understand what your smiley means here.
>The rest of your post appears to come from pique, so what's this ":-)"
>-- baring fangs in malice, attempting to mend fences and defuse anger,
>claiming that emotional displays and/or emoticons are rational,
>or what?
>
>I'm not being deliberately obtuse; it's that I don't find your
>meaning clear.
Well, M., I was being deliberately ambiguous. Apparently, it worked. I
was trying to show that over-analyzing smileys can be a waste of time
for those obsessive types who are inclined to do so. [smiley omitted
to avoid inflicting further anguish]
>(Whereas the fact that Truly was only ribbing
>Merideth about her spelling was blazingly obvious to me.)
I guessed as much myself, but I haven't been following this newsgroup
long enough to know whether Truly, who never uses any smileys, is just
a kidder or is really a sourpuss. I suppose I wouldn't object to being
called obtuse in this case.
Truly Donovan
J. Edward Sanchez wrote:
>
> I guessed as much myself, but I haven't been following this newsgroup
> long enough to know whether Truly, who never uses any smileys, is just
> a kidder or is really a sourpuss. I suppose I wouldn't object to being
> called obtuse in this case.
Hold on there! Truly never uses any frownies, either, so you have to
admit the possibility that she could be Little Merry Sunshine, too.
Lee Rudolph
Truly Donovan <tr...@lunemere.com> writes:
>J. Edward Sanchez wrote:
>>
>> I guessed as much myself, but I haven't been following this newsgroup
>> long enough to know whether Truly, who never uses any smileys, is just
>> a kidder or is really a sourpuss. I suppose I wouldn't object to being
>> called obtuse in this case.
>
>Hold on there! Truly never uses any frownies, either, so you have to
>admit the possibility that she could be Little Merry Sunshine, too.
But one thing's for sure--she'd never troll for yet another
"merry/Mary/marry" pronunciation thread.
Lee Rudolph [References: header chopped at inews's behest]
Matthew Rabuzzi
J. Edward Sanchez <je...@lightlink.com> writes:
: Matthew Rabuzzi <"rabuzzi@+remove+"@loc251.tandem.com> wrote:
: >Say, J., ...
: Well, M., ...
Edward, my apologies -- I simply hadn't noticed your signoff at the end
of this or prior articles, and assumed that "J." from your posting name
was acceptable. You may safely assume that I go by "Matthew".
But now that I've written this much, I think I will continue the
discussion in the more pertinent "Emoticons" thread.
.....................
Reticulous Pursiflage
Matthew Rabuzzi