Ghandi-like

[muckefuck]

You all know I'm not a spelling nazi. I understand that spelling is a peculiarly specialised skill which some people (like me) have an inherent knack for but which others (like my sister) simply lack, and that considering it a proxy for someone's intelligence or general level of education is shortsighted at best. At most, in this age of ubiquitous online spellchecking, it might connote a certain lackadaisicalness[*]. So if I remark on the spelling in a post, it's usually a case where the poster is someone I know as an average-to-good speller who is guilty of a typo which results in an amusing malapropism (e.g. "propane" for "profane" and vice-versa).

But proper names are an exception. It's not fair that it should be so, I know, since they're even harder to get right than ordinary words: there are often multiple "correct" spellings depending on the individual involved (e.g. James Caan vs Madeleine Kahn vs Edward Cahn vs Aamir Khan) and spellcheckers are no help. I guess I feel that since these are known pitfalls, people should be making an extra effort to avoid them. Or maybe forty years of having my surname routinely mangled by all and sundry has just made me irrationally embittered in this area?

In any case, all this is no more than an attempt at excusing myself for becoming a troll on Facebook. There's a macro going around of "Ghandi's 7 Dangers to Human Virtue" [sic]. The first couple of times I saw it, I disregarded it. Then vianegativa reblogged it and he's someone I don't mind having a go at, since Matt's a chum who I know won't go ballistic over a little dickery. But the problem with trolling is that you never know what you'll end up hooking and now some perfectly sweet stranger has responded to my comment "So this Ghandi guy, he was kind of like the Bhudda?" with a patient and lengthy explanation of who this "Ghandi" man was and why he finds him inspirational. D'oh!

[*] Had to look up the spelling of this!

Update: The penny has finally dropped! Yay!

Comments

[lhn.livejournal.com]

I once spent some time searching for "Ghandi" on the tvtropes wiki and correcting it. But there's a limit to how much it's worth trying to bail the ocean with a spoon. :-)

(The funny thing is you'll pretty much never find "Gandi". They know there's an h in there somewhere. :-) )

[tyrannio.livejournal.com]

They aspire to spell better, but fail.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

*Googles "Ganhdi"*
*finds 31,000 hits*
*weeps*

[tyrannio.livejournal.com]

"Be the sound change you want to hear in the world."

[pne.livejournal.com]

Makes me wonder whether he has any long-list Irish great-cousins called (in aspirate mutation) hGandi....

[danthered.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey, yeah, I never ate there but it looks like a real nice place!

[anicca-anicca.livejournal.com]

off topic

[princeofcairo.livejournal.com]

Ghandi was nothing like the Bhudda. If anything, he was more like Ghengis Kahn.

[joebehrsandiego.livejournal.com]

In the tiny SoDak town of Java, where my dad grew up there were many variations on my surname: "Wolf" (ours), "Wulf", "Wulff", "Wolff" ... everything but the Brit "Wolfe". And they were all pretty much related to one another; Ellis Island clerks made the changes. My mom the family genealogist decided "Wolff" was probably the original spelling from Stuttgart.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I might not be so quick to blame the clerks; all those variations can be found in Germany as well, sometimes within the same branch of descent. I even know of families that changed the spelling of their names for religious reasons.

[joebehrsandiego.livejournal.com]

That's good information; thanks!

[pne.livejournal.com]

For religious reasons? Tell me more!

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

Never be confused agaihn.

[linuxcub.livejournal.com]

Surely you meant to say Dh'o ...

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

45 years of having my name mangled has made me not care.

"How do you pronounce your name?"

"Bill."