Re: orthography

[Owen Davidson <owend...>]

Judith Cohen wrote:

>  The Net is resulting in spelling
> changes, together with teen-spell, too. I'm not advocating chaos, just
> perspective.
>

Shouldn't that B "teen-spell 2?"

Seriously, though, orthography makes for some thorny problems.  Trying to write
Greek, I ran into difficulties when I used X for "Chi" and Ks for "Ksi", and my
corresponsent was used to Ch for "Chi" and X for "Ksi."  There's a website (I've
lost the address) put up by students at the University of Crete who happen to be
fans of rembetika.  They created their own system of transliteration that they
call "Greeklish."  They use the Roman letter that most resembles the Greek.  Is
that Hell to try to read!  They use W for "Omega."  Each language comes with its
own set of limitations.  Depending on whether the second language on the album
cover is English or French, you may be listening to Um Kulthum or Om Kalsoum.
Same voice, in either case.  I know fine guitar players who speak in praise of
"DuhJango" (rhymes with "harangue-o").  Knowledgeable people, not dummies.

My word processor can make most of the standard diacritical marks: great for
Western European languages, but fails at Turkish, Hungarian, Romanian, etc. Not
so of my email capabilities, so, since I lack a lot of computer skills, I
finally made up a file of the letters in question.  That way, when trying to
compose an email on the fly, I can cut-and-paste.  I'd just love to see a word
processor and keyboard that could accomodate all of the world's languages.  It
would look something like the offspring of the marriage of the consoles of a
cathedral organ and a 747, or so I imagine.


Owen Davidson
Amherst  Mass
The Wholesale Klezmer Band

The errors of the Wise Man make your Rule,
Rather than the Perfections of a Fool.

Wm. Blake


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