Spelling And Pronunciation
Tuesday 15th August, 2006 10:06 Comments: 4
There's been an interesting chat on Dave's forum, after Dave posted some holiday photos.
Initially his sister told him off, saying: Oh and by the way, it's Algaiarens.
So I Googled it (sorry, I did a search for it using Google) and Google says: Did you mean: Algeriens
I replied saying: I suspect both are generally considered to be "right", just like Majorca or Mallorca, or Minorca or Menorca (English usage of the latter is increasing). At least it's closer than when we call Koln (i.e. in Germany) Cologne.
But then one of the other guys on the forum added: Oooh, I saw a really interesting piece about that somewhere... Can't find it now, but it was basically arguing that our pronounciation is actually closer to the original than the german.
Scarily, I found it interesting too and Googled it.. I mean did a search for it using Google. Many of the surrounding countries refer to it as Cologne/Colonia, and if it does come from the latin (Colonia) then it strongly suggests that the Germans may have changed/corrupted it in recent times (and some of the neighbours, like Hungary, also use the new form). You learn something new every day.
Initially his sister told him off, saying: Oh and by the way, it's Algaiarens.
So I Googled it (sorry, I did a search for it using Google) and Google says: Did you mean: Algeriens
I replied saying: I suspect both are generally considered to be "right", just like Majorca or Mallorca, or Minorca or Menorca (English usage of the latter is increasing). At least it's closer than when we call Koln (i.e. in Germany) Cologne.
But then one of the other guys on the forum added: Oooh, I saw a really interesting piece about that somewhere... Can't find it now, but it was basically arguing that our pronounciation is actually closer to the original than the german.
Scarily, I found it interesting too and Googled it.. I mean did a search for it using Google. Many of the surrounding countries refer to it as Cologne/Colonia, and if it does come from the latin (Colonia) then it strongly suggests that the Germans may have changed/corrupted it in recent times (and some of the neighbours, like Hungary, also use the new form). You learn something new every day.
Robert - Tuesday 15th August, 2006 10:21 The Googled/Google search thing is due to a response from Google to the Washington Post:
Google wrote that it must avoid "genericide" and provided a list of appropriate and inappropriate uses of its name. Among its examples was this appropriate use: "I ran a Google search to check out that guy from the party"; and this inappropriate use: "I googled that hottie."
Google wrote that it must avoid "genericide" and provided a list of appropriate and inappropriate uses of its name. Among its examples was this appropriate use: "I ran a Google search to check out that guy from the party"; and this inappropriate use: "I googled that hottie."
Not quite, genocide results in a lot more death (not that I know of anyone that's been killed over a trademark, but it's probably happened somewhere along the way). A genericized trademark is a name which is often used as the colloquial description for a particular type of product or service as a result of widespread popular or cultural usage. Where such a trademark becomes or replaces the common term for a product or service, the mark has become generic. A good example would be hoover, especially given that Hoover is no longer the biggest selling brand of vacuum cleaner here. America has a similar problem with kleenex being the colloquial description for tissues.
I don't think Google should be worried about genericide, what they really should worry about is genocide. I would think it would be a complement if googled became the new word for search, or maybe google are like those people who are to cool to be cool, you know like that whole its cool to be an outcast so everyone becomes an outcast. (That made more sense in my head than out!)