Rant on Linguistic Science

My dear friend Butch (yeah, the brilliant, sublime, humble etc., etc.) and I are involved in a linguistic dispute over the pronunciation of the nickname "Arcy", which is what Arcangelo Hellman (among other things a renowned trance music DJ) prefers to call himself these days. 

Butch emphatically claims that the nickname should be pronounced with a hard c ([k] as in car), i.e. Ar[k]y, because "it is short for Ar[k]angelo". I - with equal stubbornness - support the claim that the c before a y must be pronounced as a soft c (/s/ as in cent), i.e. Ar/s/y.

Today I decided to settle the dispute once and for all, by looking for evidence to support my claim which I could slam on his thick skull. In the first lines of Wikipedia's article on "Hard and soft c" I found gratifying support for my claim:

"In the Latin-based orthographies of many European languages (including English), a distinction between hard and soft ⟨c⟩ occurs in which ⟨c⟩ represents two distinct phonemes. The sound of a hard ⟨c⟩ (which often precedes the non-front vowels ⟨a⟩, ⟨o⟩ and ⟨u⟩) is that of the voiceless velar stop, [k] (as in car) while the sound of a soft ⟨c⟩ (typically before ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩ and ⟨y⟩), depending on language, may be a fricative or affricate. In English, the sound of soft ⟨c⟩ is /s/ (as in cent).

Well, I wish I had stopped reading there, but as an attorney I know that there is rarely a rule without an exception, and sometimes even exceptions to the exceptions and more often than not exceptions to the exceptions of the exception of the rule, ad infinitum. That applies especially when it comes to the human sciences, of which linguistics is one. The modern approach among scholars in these fields seems mostly intent on recording and explaining the usage instead of informing the knowledge seeking general public of what is right and what is wrong.

Instead of laying down the law, there is a widespread sloppy tolerance for wrong usage if enough people start using it. This annoying policy of permissiveness and "laissez faire" irks me, because I would prefer if they would just condemn certain usages as totally wrong and never to be used by any reasonable man ever again. Actually I have , in both spoken Swedish and English, encountered the pronunciation [k]an[k]er for the deadly disease cancer (which most commonly is pronounced [k]an/s/er), I have even seen it spelled as "kanker" in both languages. It almost killed me - both times, I should think the scholars will allow it soon enough, if they haven't done so already.

This rant has now lead me to the conclusion that I am going to ask Arcangelo Hellman how he wishes his nickname to be pronounced and act in accordance with that wish.

Guyke Spills the Beans

ƓƲƳƘƐ™ (guyke.lundquist): "Just because your name is Butch.... doesn't mean we are convinced you are :P"

Celebrating Four Years of Blogging

"Bock in SecondLife" celebrates it's fourth blogoversary today!

Little did I know when I started my online presence back in 2009 that I would still be at it this long afterwards. After publishing the first post I actually didn't post again until 4,5 months later, but ever since then I have been posting regularly - even if it was somewhat half heartedly at the beginning. It took the passing of my beloved Ars and my need to relieve my anguish to get me committed to blogging and by-and-by it became a habit that I miss when I am not able to do it.

Before moving on to the singing, cheering and toasting with champagne in crystal glasses lets summarize the blogs existence with a few numbers.

2,237 posts
5,618 comments
396,007 pageviews
97 followers (of whom 3 prefer to be hidden)

Now all please rise and join me in singing to "Bock in SecondLife"

Happy blogoversary to you,
happy blogoversary to you,
happy blogoversary to you Bock in SecondLife,
happy blogoversary to you!

May you have many more,

may you have many more,

may you have many moooooooooooorrreeeee,

may you have many more!

Three cheers to "Bock in SecondLife"! Hip, hip!
Hooray! Hooray! Hooraaaaaaaay!

The Re-Opening of Whim

During one of our talks last week I mentioned to my son, that he and I had known and loved too many DJ's in SecondLife. The statement is of course true, I would never lie to you all about something so important as love. I am, however, not quite sure what I meant with the comment, because I would not wish not having known and been given the opportunity of loving any of them.

Anyway, last night one of the DJ's my son and I know and love, the incredible, brilliant, sublime and - not to forget - humble Butch Diavolo invited us to the re-opening of his Club Whim, which for no particular reason, other than a whim of the genius himself, was shut down before the summer.

Butch wishes us to think of this as a new club "The Whim - Part Deux", but to me it's still the old Whim in a more dilapidated condition. (Dilapidation is actually more difficult to get right than making something look fresh and new, as the genius will willingly tell you.)

Myself, Guyke, Kiri, Nicky, Butch and Spanki

Guyke, I and the rest of the patrons were treated to one of Butch's best sets of trance music in SecondLife yet. I was almost knocked speechless, which is no easy feat.

Butch and Spanki

Aisha with Pite behind

Childhood

Guyke, Butch and Ziggy have been pestering me for a first life picture of myself, but this is as far as I will go at the moment.

In the picture you see me on a donkey and my older sister being protective. The picture was taken by my father on one of our families vacations in the Pakistani parts of the Himalayas. Quite lovable ain't I, but which child isn't?

The Swedish Hijab-Rebellion

A pregnant Muslim woman was recently knocked down on a street in Stockholm and had her headscarf ("hijab") pulled off by the assailant. Following the assault women who wear the veil testified that they are often subjected to name-calling and harassment of the most vile kind, both Islamophobic and misogynistic.

The incident lead to the so called "hijab-rebellion", in which women from all walks of Swedish society, wishing to show solidarity and "normalize" the wearing of hijab, started posting pictures of themselves in veils on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You name it, it was everywhere.

This "rebellion" lead to a counteraction from a combination of strange bedfellows, militant feminists and xenophobic ultranationalists on the far right of the political spectrum. They claim that the hijab is a sign of a patriarchal cultural and religious tradition of male oppression and control of women and is a tool to curtail women's freedom to dress as they chose and to express their sexuality. They also claim that it is counterproductive to integration as it creates barriers against the surrounding majority culture. Some even go so far as to say, that by wearing the veil in a Western culture the women are doing exactly the opposite of what they claim they wish to achieve, i.e not to draw attention to themselves.

Throughout Europe we are also receiving reports that young Muslim women are starting to don the veil for various reasons, some as a political statement or as a protest against the exploitation of female nudity in the Western cultures. There may be even more reasons.

I find myself a bit lost in all the rhetoric. As far as I am concerned the hijab in itself is most definitely a powerful symbol of male oppression and control and of a traditional chastity culture. However, I wouldn't dream of ever trying to regulate what a woman may or may not wear, just as I would not wish to regulate the length of her skirts or infringe on her complete right to her own body and sexuality.

Any woman should be allowed to dress as she chooses, for whatever reason. Just live with it and accept it!

Bird's-Eye View

"A bird's-eye view is an elevated view of an object from above, with a perspective as though the observer were a bird, often used in the making of blueprints, floor plans and maps.

Butch, Guyke & Bock at Guyke's dock

It can be an aerial photograph, but also a drawing. Before manned flight was common, the term "bird's eye" was used to distinguish views drawn from direct observation at high locations (for example a mountain or tower), from those constructed from an imagined (bird's) perspectives. Bird's eye views as a genre have existed since classical times. The last great flourishing of them was in the mid-to-late 19th century, when bird's eye view prints were popular in the United States and Europe."

From Wikipedia