ENGLISH IS O.K.

Last weekend the Grand Rapids Press printed a bit of nonsense in its opinion page.  Nancy Watson of Wyoming was righteous in her disgust with those who have dared to speak English.  According to Nancy, "we Americans have shown our rudeness, ignorance, and arrogance by deeming the city of Torino to be called Turin during the Winter Olympic Games."

A couple of things.  First of all, who's calling it "Turin"?  All I've seen or heard is "Torino" during the games.  If there is any ignorance going around, it's that nobody seems to know that the English name for the city is "Turin".

Second, the English "deemed" it Turin long before we Americans were around.  So blame the Brits not the Yanks for Torino's moniker in English.  While we're at, let's blame those tea-sipping wankers for Milan instead of Milano, Florence instead of Firenze, Venice instead of Venezia, Naples instead of Napoli, Rome instead of Roma, Par-is instead of Pah-ree, Cork instead of Corcaigh, Brussels instead of Bruxelles, Munich instead of Munchen, Vienna instead of Wien, Moscow instead of Moskva, Cairo instead of Al-Qahirah, Bombay instead of Mumbai, and ... well, you get the point.

Finally, what exactly is rude, ignorant, or arrogant about English speakers speaking English?  Nothing, which is probably why Nancy closed her comments by demanding that we "give Italy, and the rest of the world, the respect it is due."  Of course, "Italy" is the rude, ignorant, and arrogant English word for what the Italians know as "Italia".

Comments

[Dan Tietema]

This may be one of your best articles to date. You should submit it to the GR Press so others who don't follow your site can read.

Best of luck!

Dan Tietema

[The Executive Director]

Hi, Dan.

Glad you enjoyed the article.

Also, good luck with your application for the Third Ward seat. Looks like you have a lot of competition. You may find my "Race to the Bottom" article interesting. I address one of the unsavory aspects of the current selection process.

Regards,
Bill