Re: Why don't we spell cat with a K?

From: Harlan Messinger (hmessinger.removethis_at_comcast.net)
Date: 06/20/04 

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 11:23:58 -0400

"Keith Edgerley" <edgerley.kj@bluewin.ch> wrote:

>Why on earth should a Swiss German peasant girl - her parents' are farmers
>in a really out of the way village - use an English spelling of her
>abbreviated first name. Talk about ethnocentric!
>

Talk about elitism, to hold that poor country people can't possibly be
expected to know or have any interest in exotic names from other
countries. I wonder if it perplexes you that "Edson," plainly not a
natively Brazilian name, is the name that a poor couple, João Ramos
and Celeste do Nacimento, in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, chose for
their son who grew up to become the international football star Pelé.

Besides, I did suggest the possibility that the name may already have
been generally known in Switzerland, not borrowed directly by your
friend's parents, and yet still be a borrowing from English. In fact,
this is the case with Edson, which according to

http://wais.stanford.edu/Brazil/brazil_inaname.html

is a modification of Thomas Edison's name that is popular, along with
Robson, Anderson, and Washington, in Rio's slum districts. 

-- 
Harlan Messinger
Remove the first dot from my e-mail address.
Veuillez ôter le premier point de mon adresse de courriel.