6.08.2005

Revisionist Spelling

Neil Gaiman: "And when I was at school, we read about King Canute. I see from the Guardian his name is now spelled Cnut (http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1497065,00.html) making him sort of the FCUK of Early British Kings...."

Observation on transliterating Anglo Saxon names: I find it much easier to remember who's rule it is with the razor now that I know that Friar Ockham (or Friar Somebody of Ockham, more likely) came up with it in the 14th century (Occam's Razor). Dunno how it got the latinate spelling, or when, but spelled Occam it's a slippery name and I could only ever recall the part about the razor--now that it's Ockham in my head it's easy to hold on to.

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