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Ghandi-like
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![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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!
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!