3.450 old spelling; Fraktur (61)
Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@VM.EPAS.UTORONTO.CA)
Fri, 8 Sep 89 23:19:06 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 450. Friday, 8 Sep 1989.
(1) Date: 8 September 1989, 09:26:09 EDT (19 lines)
From: FLANNAGA at OUACCVMB
Subject: a last (?) note on old-spelling (and no mo' hearts)
(2) Date: Fri, 08 Sep 89 10:40:32 CDT (22 lines)
From: "Michael S. Hart" <HART@UIUCVME>
Subject: Re: 3.444 old spelling: Fraktur, cont. (116)
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 8 September 1989, 09:26:09 EDT
From: FLANNAGA at OUACCVMB
Subject: a last (?) note on old-spelling (and no mo' hearts)
Wouldn't it just be common sense to *tell* the reader of an old-spelling
edition in whatever language how to navigate around the five or six
difficulties a first-time modern reader would have? To confess: I was
twenty-six before I discovered the difference between "foreword" and
"foreward." My daughter, a very bright and articulate thirteen, wrote
us this summer that there was "bumber to bumber" traffic from Gatwick to
Lincoln. If someone had not pointed out the obvious to either of us, we
might still be in the dark about spelling or usage. So anyone out there
who is editing some text that is over 100 years old probably should tell
his or her readers that it was customary to capitalize all important
nouns but not verbs, or to put commas before dashes, or to use
semi-colons and colons for roughly the same purposes. Doesn't that
solve the problem? Thanks to all who have helped clarify our (not just
my) thinking. Roy Flannagan (Professor of English, Ohio University,
Athens, Ohio 45701)
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------31----
Date: Fri, 08 Sep 89 10:40:32 CDT
From: "Michael S. Hart" <HART@UIUCVME>
Subject: Re: 3.444 old spelling: Fraktur, cont. (116)
I referred this question to a German. His answer was that Germans don't
deal with Fraktur, and haven't for quite some time, other than for those
specific purposes which may require it for historical or ethnic study.
He said all his textbooks for his entire education were post-Fraktur and
that the average German never dealt with it at all. This appears! to be
another instance of foreign language study being behind the times of the
country originating the language. I am sure you multi-lingual Humanists
each have your own story(ies) concerning some faux pas occurring where a
conversation in a native land goes awry when a person who has studied to
"perfection" but has studied the language as it was spoken in the past.
My personal favorite is from an American Jew who studied years and YEARS
to perfect her Hebrew and finally went to Israel. Her first question on
arrival was "What time is it?" (she wanted to reset her watch to Israeli
time) . . . of course some of you may have already figured out what this
meant to the two men she asked. (Imagine Mae West saying, "Hiya boys, I
wonder if you've got the time?")