4.0461 Words: Trademarks, Spelling, Dictionaries, &tc. (7/111)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Fri, 7 Sep 90 16:30:07 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0461. Friday, 7 Sep 1990.


(1) Date: Fri, 7 Sep 90 06:23 CDT (25 lines)
From: Robin Smith <RSMITH@KSUVM>
Subject: Educated misspellings

(2) Date: Fri, 7 Sep 90 08:53:57 EDT (7 lines)
From: pdk@iris.brown.edu (Paul D. Kahn)
Subject: Re: 4.0458 More Words and Trademarks

(3) Date: Fri, 7 Sep 90 16:33 O (18 lines)
From: John D. Hopkins <HOPKINS@FINFUN>
Subject: File Available of SAE/SBE "Ambiguities"

(4) Date: Fri, 7 Sep 90 08:55 EST (12 lines)
From: "Lorraine Olley, Preservation, 855-6281" <OLLEY@IUBACS>
Subject: RE: 4.0444 Trademarks

(5) Date: 7 September 90, 13:46:50 CDT (12 lines)
From: Bill Ball <C476721 at UMCVMB>
Subject: pointless word game for Humanists

(6) Date: Fri, 07 Sep 90 12:33 PDT (23 lines)
From: KESSLER <IME9JFK@UCLAMVS.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 4.0458 More Words and Trademarks

(7) Date: Fri, 07 Sep 90 15:03:42 CDT (14 lines)
From: "Michael S. Hart" <HART@UIUCVMD>
Subject: Re: 4.0458 More Words and Trademarks

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 90 06:23 CDT
From: Robin Smith <RSMITH@KSUVM>
Subject: Educated misspellings

Since we're discussing both trademarks and US/UK differences, here is
another item of wordplay I've found interesting over the years. There
are a number of English misspellings that seem to depend on a bit of
education. I would nominate 'supercede' as such a case ('supersede'
looking ignorant to some eyes). From within my own field, there's the
work by Aristotle allegedly entitled 'Nichomachean Ethics' (or even
'Nichomacean Ethics'): I've actually seen the former spelling in
scholarly articles and books ('Nicomachean' is correct). A few of these
seem to have long ago crept into English. 'Author' (rather than the
older 'autor') is usually explained as a scribal error based on the false
belief that the word has a Greek ancestry and that Greek-derived words
probably have lots of thetas and chis in them (cf. the bizarre variation
in medieval Latin mss. of versions of 'metaphysics': 'methapysics,'
'methaphysics,' etc.). So, is there a recognized name for this sort of
thing? And do others have favorite examples?

Two comments on other notes. About citation indexes: since *Arts and
Hum. CI* gives exact citations, it's occasionally useful for locating
articles which discuss a particular passage in a classical author (look
up, e.g. Aristotle, De Anima III.5). And about another subject: in my
experience, the American word 'booger' is so spelled.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------17----
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 90 08:53:57 EDT
From: pdk@iris.brown.edu (Paul D. Kahn)
Subject: Re: 4.0458 More Words and Trademarks (3/84)

Doing a search for "trademark" in the definitions of the American
Heritage Dictionary I get 160 entries, from adrenalin (that's adrenaline
without the e) to zip code. Does someone actually want the list?
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------30----
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 90 16:33 O
From: John D. Hopkins <HOPKINS@FINFUN>
Subject: File Available of SAE/SBE "Ambiguities"

In continuation to Bob Kraft's examples of 05 September on "ambiguities"
between American and British English, I could offer a nine-page (A-4)
single-spaced Email file of such examples to anyone who lets me know they
would like it -- I'd also welcome comments on and additions to it.

This is a handout in a course on "Introduction to American English" for
professional translation students, who must be able to distinguish
between SAE and SBE variations. Further, two entertaining published
collections on the subject are BRIT-THINK, AMERI-THINK: A TRANSATLANTIC
SURVIVAL GUIDE (Walmsley, Penguin Books), and WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
(Moss, Hutchinson of London Press).

John D. Hopkins (Hopkins@FINFUN.Bitnet; Hopkins@CSC.FI)
University of Tampere, Finland
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------19----
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 90 08:55 EST
From: "Lorraine Olley, Preservation, 855-6281" <OLLEY@IUBACS>
Subject: RE: 4.0444 Trademarks

Of course, the generic name for a Coke or Pepsi or RC is "cola." Since
this discussion started, I have been waiting for the story about
Coca-Cola reps visiting restaurants to make sure that a coke is a Coke to
surface. Does anyone know, do they really do this, or is this another
bit of modern folklore?

Lorraine Olley
Indiana University Libraries
(5) --------------------------------------------------------------17----
Date: 7 September 90, 13:46:50 CDT
From: Bill Ball C476721 at UMCVMB
Subject: pointless word game for Humanists

I ran a memo through the spell checker in Word Perfect 5.1 and for the
last name of 'Tillema' it came up with the following suggestions:
'ptolemy', 'thalami', and 'tyloma'. I wonder what interesting ideas
it would come up with for other unusual family names? Unfortunately,
given my name, I can't join in the fun to find out.

Bill Ball
c476721@UMCVMB
(6) --------------------------------------------------------------224---
Date: Fri, 07 Sep 90 12:33 PDT
From: KESSLER <IME9JFK@UCLAMVS.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 4.0458 More Words and Trademarks (3/84)

In 1952, walking about an empty Rome, a vacant Colosseo, we met up with
an English couple, the man about 6'6", moustached, ex-officer, etc.
Simple chap. He prevented me from buying a good waterman from an
urchin, saying they were all fakes. It was blazing hot, not a car
anywhere. I offered him a candy, that is a hard sourball that one sucks
on, lemon or cherry. He was grateful, and I heard him suddenly
crunching it to bits with his apparently good molars! I said,
astonished, You are supposed to suck on these. He replied all
innocently, Oh, you said it was candy. We chew candy. We suck sweets.
I laughed, because we dont use the word sweets in the US. It is all
candy, and anyone with a bit of pragmatism or empiricism would not bite
down on a crystal! What words can do to activate reflexes! But no, he
was being so very polite. So English. It was charming. But I have
never forgiven him for interdicting my purchase of a real, good
Waterman's fountain pen! He also said he was a Liberal in politics, and
didnt suppose I knew what that meant, as it was a party that was
vanishing, and had but about 8% of the vote. I told him I knew, I knew:
not for nothing was I doing a PhUD in the Georgian Period...not that he
had read Brooke, Woolf, Forster, et al. Good chap, though. Kessler
(7) --------------------------------------------------------------20----
Date: Fri, 07 Sep 90 15:03:42 CDT
From: "Michael S. Hart" <HART@UIUCVMD>
Subject: Re: 4.0458 More Words and Trademarks

It would appear all our transatlantic folk have forgotten the British
term "Bally table" as the generic term for pin-ball machine.

Or perhaps you were, like myself, banned by your parents from such things.

Michael S. Hart (Who once held three records on the pins as an adult)

PS For those who don't know, Bally was the manufacturer of "long flipper"
games, versus Got(t)leib, who made the earlier (and harder) short
flippers.