Lost letters

    If a restaurant or some other establishment wants to add an older, quainter atmosphere to their establishment, the quickest and easiest method is to add "ye olde" to the front of their name. However, what does this phrase mean? In simple terms, "ye olde" is an older antiquated method of saying. "the old". While dropping the "e" off of "olde" over the years is an understandable shortening, how in the world did the "y" in "ye" come to mean the "th" sound? As it turns out, the Europeans are to blame.

     Well, the Europeans were not the problem really. Their languages, however, are what is to blame. Originally, English included a letter called the thorn, þ. This letter had its roots in the old runic alphabet, coming from the thurisaz rune.

Now, the rune/letter changed shape many times as it was passed down through the centuries. Going from a þ, which kept the same basic shape of the rune, the letter eventually ended up looking like Ƿ. Now all of this was fine and dandy up until the printing presses first came to England. As most of the European languages didn't contain the thorn, the English printers with a quandary, what were they going to do for the letter thorn?

     Fortunately, one bright printer, whose name is lost to history, came up with the solution. In the blackletter, or Gothic script that was popular at the time, the thorn looked very similar to the letter "y". Because of this, printers started simply printing "y" for thorn, and the use of the letter died out. Eventually, English speakers started using the two letters "t" and "h" placed side by side for the "th" sound instead of the "y", and "y", was given a sound of its own.

    As often happens, old things become new again and "ye" started to make a comeback as part of "ye olde" being added to the descriptions or names of things to give them an aged feel. However, there was a problem. Instead of pronouncing the "ye" as "the", most were pronouncing it as "ye". While the spelling had come back, it left the rules for how it was supposed to be pronounced behind. While it reality it doesn't matter if you pronounce it as "the" or "ye", at least you know the way it supposed to "be".







1. http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/11/12/31017/737
2. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ye
3. http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2011/01/08/the-origin-of-ye-in-ye-olde-shoppe/
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%9A%A6
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_olde

"Borrowed" Words

Saw this on Reddit, and couldn't help posting it. With as many borrowed words as English has, it seems like we have done this many times in the past.

1. http://i.imgur.com/wXPREnB.jpg

"Yo, yo yo!"

     Language is a pliable, constantly changing thing. For example, the English of 100 years ago is not exactly the same as the English of today, see my earlier article on the ampersand. While English made the change with the ampersand many years ago, a similar change seems to be happening to the Russian language.   

     The symbol to the left is the Russian symbol for the sound "yo". This symbol was added to the language in the 18th century and later was championed by Stalin and mandated in schools and in the Communist party's official newspaper. Recently, ë seems to have fallen out of favor with many modern speakers, as well as some Russian language purists who point to the relatively late addition of the letter to the Cyrillic alphabet as a good reason for it's removal. 

     However, a small group of people have been fighting back in favor of the ë, going so far as to write books in its defense, programming computers to be able to use it, and even going as far as getting monuments placed in two small towns in it's honor. These people call themselves yofikators, champions of the letter ë. Their opponents call them amateurs and sticklers to artificial rules. However some yofikators believe that ë has an opponent from outside of Russia. In December of 2012, one yofikators interview led the CIA to come out and officially deny that they have been working to take the ë out of the Russian language.

     In an interview in November of 2012, shortly before his death at the age of 80, Viktor Chumakov, who called himself the "Chief Yofikator", was interviewed about his fight to keep the letter ë in the Russian language. Mr. Chumakov stated several reasons for the decline of the letters use, Russian laziness since Stalin's death, opposition by government officials, and lastly,that it was an assault by the CIA. Mr. Chumakov claimed that the CIA was working covertly in the Russian Language Institute, a state run language organization, to bring about the downfall of ë and weaken Russia. "In any country, the alphabet is an instrument to bring order," and "If it isn't respected, everything falls to pieces."

     Conspiracy theories are not a new thing. New ones seem to pop up everyday. However what makes Mr. Chumakov's claim different, is that it resulted in an official comment from the CIA, denying any such involvement. According to the CIA, “There is absolutely no truth to this allegation. The Agency supports the practice of good grammar and pronunciation in any language.”

     Whether or not the CIA is attempting to remove ë from the Russian language, the cause to keep the letter recently gained an important ally. After receiving a complaint letter about not being able to use the ë on a government form, Education Minister Dmitry Livanov unexpectedly joined the fight to keep the letter. "We absolutely have to fix this problem," Livanov said, "Millions are suffering." While Livanov hasn't announced exactly how he plans to do it, it seems like the ë may have a future in the Russian language.








1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/17/cia-officially-denies-that-it-is-trying-to-erase-a-letter-from-the-russian-alphabet/
2. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324784404578144972339592016.html

   

   

"What's in a name...?"

     While a many of the posts on this website are dedicated to the times when people have language fails, I love being able to post a language win.

     The picture above comes from the twitter account of Peter Sagal, the host of Wait wait... don't tell me, a comedic radio program that airs on NPR. The mind behind the ad clearly has a masterful grasp of  navigating the treacherous waters of copyright law. While they would have gotten in trouble for just calling it "The Super Bowl party in a box", as the term "Super Bowl" is heavily copyrighted and defended, the restaurant cleverly insulated itself from the wrath of the NFL by just adding the phrase, "big internationally televised professional football" in between "Super" and "Bowl". One can only hope that more people take note and learn from this example.

"You can't handle the truth!"

     Like a lot of people, my wife and I like to keep magazines in the bathroom so that we can read while we take care of business. Last year, my wife bought me a subscription to Popular Mechanics, and since then, it has become one of our bathroom staples. The ads usually go unnoticed by either of us, however,the back cover add of the most recent issue caught my eye.

     The top of the ad is as normal as any other:

     Notice the tag line, "Tellin' it like it is". It puts forth the aura of machismo just by the spelling. It's so manly it doesn't need a "g". It's also suggests that if you are manly enough, you will tell the truth no matter how hard or bad it may be. And it is with that frame of mind that I noticed what is on the bottom of the ad:

     I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I read that. The testosterone fueled message, that being manly enough to fix your own car and solve any mental or emotional problems you may have on your own, all the while chewing on some Grizzly long cut snuff, loses some of it's impact when, with in 6 inches of it, there is a huge warning message. At least the add is "Tellin' you like it is" enough to let you know that the product being advertised can cause the bottom half your face to fall off.

     Here is a full picture of the add, so you can see it in all its glory.