Celtic, Keltic, Seltic

When I was in school we pronounced "Celtic" as "seltic". That had been the prevailing pronunciation for awhile -- hence the Glasgow Celtic and Boston Celtic whom both pronounce as "seltic". Now all of sudden here I am being corrected! So I had to look in to this.

Well, the first thing is that the point is moot anyway because the Celts certainly never referred to themselves as "Celts". "Celtic" came into English via French and Latin. Until fairly recently, and is often still today, the standard pronunciation of the word has been "seltic", as is to be expected of an English word starting "ce-", especially one that came into English via French (where all words stating "ce-" are spoken with an "S" sound) and Latin (which in British pronunciation pronounces all its words starting "ce-" with an "S" sound). Words that have been borrowed from Italian such as cello and ciao are pronounced with the hard "ch".

So, why did the pronunciation change? Simply put, it became fashionable to pronounce the word "keltic". It is now assumed that if you do not pronounce the word "Keltic", you do not know anything about Celts! This is of course fallacious as the Celts did not actually use this word nor probably even recognise it. Basically the main reason that "keltic" is now considered "correct" is sheer weight of numbers - which is how basically any pronunciation becomes standard.

All that being said, pronouncing Celtic as "seltic" has a long established tradition in English and is still correct. I understand there are still professors in Scotland saying "seltic"!

Where did the word come from? Greeks called the barbarians "Keltoi". The Romans took the word and used it as "Celtae". The word then entered French as "Celtes" from which the English derived "Celt" pronounced as "selt". Anyway the Sgaothaich, Dumnonii, Cornovii, Belgae, Durotriges, the people of Dál Riata and others did not call themselves "Celts"!



"Sean Padraig"

Buzzwords must die!

Recently I have been involved in a project with a business analyst. All identities are concealed to protect...me! It is slowly sapping my enthusiasm and will to care. These meetings have become like a trip to the dentist to get your teeth drilled without anaesthetic.

- We don't talk, we "dialogue".
- We don't discuss, we "interface".
- We don't help or assist, we "facilitate".
- We don't check our progress, we "milestone".
- We don't act, we "action".

At this point I am ready to chew off my foot to escape the meeting. Opinions are asked and ignored - lip service to discussion. Dissension is met with scorn and condescension. Information is apparently doled out to superiors altered to achieve a certain aim or decision.

When did people start using nouns as verbs? You cannot "action" something. You can commit to a course of action; you can plan an action; or you can "act". "Action" is a noun! Is there some secret rule that says that business analysts can't speak English correctly?

It is already affecting management! The effect is managers and supervisor using buzzwords on their staff! Nobody feels like they are communicating unless they wrap all their communications in jargon and buzzwords!!!

Learn to speak and write correct English you pompous twits!

When Signs Attack!

I found this interesting sign along Hespeler Rd in Cambridge, Ontario. Well, it seems that a restaurant called the "Dallas Beef Parlour" shares a building and a sign with an adult store called appropriately enough "Adults Only Video". Sometimes things don't quite work out...

For whatever reason, the AOV name is missing from the sign, which now reads:

"DALLAS BEEF PARLOUR
X RATED VHS
MOVIE SALE
ADULT TOYS
OPEN UNTIL 10PM
WEEKLY RENTALS"

Hmmmm.... makes you wonder what kind of "beef" they are offering and are they giving away a free toy with every meal. Wait a minute! VHS??? What is this 1993???

The sounds you hear are generations of English Teachers rolling over in their graves!

It is is ironic these days that at the same time as there is more written in blogs, e-mails, text messaging and other forms of communication, language skills are getting worse. We have the enigma of children being placed in French Immersion when they cannot even speak English well! A lot of the problem may relate to linguistic laziness, but is more likely due to poor instruction.

When I was in school we learnt spelling, grammar and phonics. We had these skills drilled in to us. It seems that these days it is unfashionable to drill children in skills. Teachers do not worry so much about spelling and grammar. So, not only do we have a generation without adequate English skills, but one without the academic discipline to push on through adversity.

One of my pet peeves is people who constantly confuse "much" and "many". Now admittedly for someone who has learnt English as a second language this is understandable as so much of English is learnt by what "sounds right". But native speakers do not have this excuse. Hearing a Canadian child saying things like "much people" or "many sand", can definitely set your teeth on edge! The plural of "mouse" is "mice" not "mouses"!!!!

Enunciation is also shot to hell! Some people speak like they are drunk or have their mouths numbed by Novocaine!

This brings us to the word "buoy". I was taught to pronounce the word identical to "boy", no "e", no "y"...just buoy like boy - hence the life jacket brand name "Buoy-O-Buoy" which only works if you pronounce buoy correctly. I did some research, and apparently the pronunciation "bouey" most closely resembles the French "bouée", which is good if you're speaking French - not so good if you're speaking English!!!!