A very petty and trivial complaint about Obama's speech

[jpgray]

Watching on whitehouse.gov, the viewer was treated to a series of slides outlining the major points, and in the course of the free trade agreement proposals, next to the flag for a certain South American country was written "Columbia."

There is no excuse for this spell-checker fugitive. Somebody should have told the staffers that there is no identification, nominal or otherwise, between the nation and the institution where many of them received their degrees.

[JVS]

1. K&R

I want to see someone fired for that!

[Rex]

2. .

[MineralMan]

3. Annoying, to be sure, but hardly a big deal.

If you asked 100 random DUers to spell Colombia, and even if you identified it as a country, I'm betting that 90 of them would spell it "Columbia."

Spelling is not most people's strong suit.

[jpgray]

4. This isn't intended as any kind of serious or momentous criticism

But it's funny that such a thing would be missed.

[MineralMan]

6. It doesn't seem funny to me, really.

If you asked the same 100 random DUers to finish "Christopher ___________ is believed to have discovered the new world, the same 90 would spell his last name Columbus.

It's a very common error, and is part of the problem with English and foreign language names. How "Cristobal Colon" or "Cristoforo Colombo" became "Christopher Columbus" is a story in itself. We're just not good with language here. The only known signature of his is "Cristóbal Colón." That's how he spelled his name.

It is so common that even Wikipedia screws it up sometimes. For example, in the Wikipedia entry for Columbus, OH, there is this:

"Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cincinnati and Cleveland. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city in the United States of America. It is the county seat of Franklin County,<14> yet the city has expanded and annexed portions of adjoining Delaware County and Fairfield County. Named for explorer Christopher Columbus, the city was founded in 1812 "


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus,_Ohio

We're very confused about that. Then there's "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" and various other uses of the Columbus spelling. It's very confusing, and wasn't even the man's name in the first place. Colombia, being a Spanish-speaking country, got it right. We, as an English-speaking country, get it wrong as often as we get it right. It's just not a simple issue. His name should be spelled in English as "Colombus," but it's not. Funky, is what English is, when it comes to adapting words from other languages.

I can't fault the White House too much on this one.

[boston bean]

10. Were'nt you just giving us special threads daily on spelling?

seems I do remember that. And maybe a comment or two on how it bothered you so...

[MineralMan]

11. Why, yes, I was. But so many people castigated me for doing so

that I stopped. They weren't spelling lessons, per se, though. They were about the proper use of homophones. That's really a separate issue from spelling. Would you like me to start again? I'm not sure what that has to do with this thread, though, unless you're just looking for a way to chide me.

I am very interested in etymology, orthography, spelling, grammar, and other aspects of language. It's one of my favorite things. Does that bother you for some reason? Why?

BTW, I will refrain from commenting on your misplaced apostrophe. :rofl:

[boston bean]

12. thanks.

[originalpckelly]

5. Sorry about that.

:-(

We all totally debated it, "Columbia or Colombia," and my impassioned defense of "Columbia" won out.

[DevonRex]

7. Well, I told you so.

:evilgrin:

[UTUSN]

8. Well, somebody should have stopped Shrub from uttering the word "crusade"

Or maybe they really *wanted* to use it.

[RebelOne]

9. As a former copy editor, I can tell you that it is a common error. n/t