Tim Worstall

A Little Help Please?

Via Tim Blair we get to this:

It must be getting a little too close for Christmas
for the chi-chi crystal palace of the pretentious European Union.
Pooh-bahs in Brussels have come up with a new grammar rule for
themselves and the Netherlands–making it official that the name
"Christ" will soon be written with a lower-case "c". That was the
stipulation in an orthography reform published earlier this month in
Brussels.

  According to the Kath.net agency, the new
spelling legislation will also stipulate that the Dutch word for "jews"
(joden) be spelled with a capital "J" when referring to nationality and
with a lower-case "j" when referring to the religion. The changes will
be mandatory in August of 2006. There is no description of the fines
offenders will face if they keep right on spelling "Christ" with a
capital "C".

This is a joke, right? A spoof? Elaib? Aunty? Richard? Anyone?

In

9 responses

  1. The Weasel Bearder Avatar
    The Weasel Bearder

    “Jewish”, upper case or lower, is not a nationality.

    Reply
  2. dsquared Avatar
    dsquared

    I think it is; if one is a Jew (or possibly jew; in any case, a matrilineal descendant of Abraham) one has a special sttus in the constitution of the State of Israel (or possibly the state of israel), whether one is a follower of the Jewish (or possibly jewish) religion.

    Reply
  3. Chris harper Avatar
    Chris harper

    Recently a Russian friend asked me the name of the body officially responsible for regulating English usage, and when I replied that no such body existed she reacted with incredulity.
    Given that English is now the main official language of the EU, how long before these control freaks establish an Academy Anglais?

    Reply
  4. K Avatar
    K

    The rule seems odd to me. But admittedly I am an amateur about word usage.
    Catholic means universal, or so I have understood. So would a Catholic person now be a catholic just as a Jew has become a jew? Or would one break a law by not adding roman to specify which religion?
    Since the Romans are gone as a politcal force they won’t object to being romans now. Oops, romans are novels in germany.
    Perhaps I mistake what this means. Languages capitalize in different ways. Why does the EU set rules for the dutch unless it sets them for every country?
    Tim adds: The Catholic, catholic difference already exists in English. A member of a specific church and someone with wide (universal) tastes.

    Reply
  5. dearieme Avatar
    dearieme

    It wasn’t the EU, it turns out, but just the Dutch language police. But the EU will surely someday try to outlaw spellings like labor, nite, center and so on, and even pronounciations like Eye-rak, DEEfence, FEYEnance and so on?

    Reply
  6. dsquared Avatar
    dsquared

    the Academie Francaise does not “regulate” the French language in any sense other than that in which Lynne Truss “regulates” English punctuation. They will tell you when you’re wrong if you can be bothered listening to them, but there are no fines, enforcement procedures etc.

    Reply
  7. William Avatar
    William

    The new spelling regulations are at the behest of the Dutch and Belgian (Flemish) governments. In 1954 the first new spelling was introduced. Its primary focus was to make the language less German-sounding (e.g. visch [fish] became vis). In 1996 another spelling revision was introduced. The general effect has been to make people uncertain. For immigrants, or those like myself who have learnt the language as an adult, it is a real pain in the neck. My wife, who teaches Dutch at a polytechnic in Holland, feels it has had a negative effect on people’s willingness to commit their ideas to paper. It’s worth noting, I feel, that there is no penalty attached to incorrect usage, unless you are sitting an examination etc.

    Reply
  8. Marcin Tustin Avatar
    Marcin Tustin

    Sadly, dsquared is wrong about the Academie Francaise: Unlike Lynne Truss, they set what the language taught in schools is, and what is used in official documents.

    Reply
  9. dsquared Avatar
    dsquared

    I certainly hope that British schools also teach correct punctuation and spelling. They certainly did when I was a lad.

    Reply

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