In jihad, the first casualty is spelling

[robinturner]

Will people commenting on the Danish cartoons furore please note that "censor" and "censure" are different words?

Comments

[moonlit-page.livejournal.com]

dude, i was spelling Qur'an as Koran, because that's the way my undergrad prof. spelled it, until some kind muslim on my f-list pointed it out. *head goes desky* i have a degree in mythology and have actually READ sections of the Qur'an. i am blonde. there is no excuse.

[circumambulate.livejournal.com]

Koran is just the Aglicized version of the Arabic Qur'an - nothing wrong with that.

[circumambulate.livejournal.com]

and, even there, even Qur'an is still and aglicized form, since it's using an entirely different alphabet. Kinda like arguing about whether Wade-Giles, or Pinyin forms are the correct spelling of Chinese words. Neither is ultimately 'correct'.

[cf.livejournal.com]

actually, pinyin is the official red chinese commie pigsnout transliteration, so if you are transcribing red chinese commie pigsnout documents, you should use pinyin.

I am not aware of any predominately islamic nation state deciding on an offical transliteration system.



How long till the chinese attack me?

[circumambulate.livejournal.com]

true, but academically, you're still as likely to see one, as the other.

[solri.livejournal.com]

Except for here in Turkey, of course. I've sometimes been pulled up because I tend reflexively to write "Kuran". Come to think of it, that probably is the best transliteration.

[moonlit-page.livejournal.com]

Really? Whew. I felt like a total asshat, yo.

[drx.livejournal.com]

*snickers*

[oblomova.livejournal.com]

I'll only muddy the waters by bringing this (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03519c.htm) into the discussion, won't I?

[solri.livejournal.com]

I rather like the idea of self-censering. You could work out clever routines like nunchaku forms where you swing it round your head, under your arm, round your back etc.

[blorky.livejournal.com]

I saw one instance of someone talking about how to "sensai the cartoonists". I think that a runaway spellchecker must have had it's way with the person's column, but if that's the case, I really wonder what the word started out as.

[cassielsander.livejournal.com]

I for one think giving political cartoonists martial arts training would be a Very Bad Idea.

[solri.livejournal.com]

I love rogue spellcheckers. I may have mentioned the essays I recieved on the Greek philosopher Plateau and the British political philosopher Thomas Hobbies.

[hyperina.livejournal.com]

they're both relevant to the discussion at hand, but i don't know how you've seen it. were comments trying to pass off censure as censorship?

i think self-censure is appropriate to describe what the cartoonists did/experienced, they struggled with having attitudes that might be unpopular or politically incorrect and then they feel guilty and blame themselves, etc.

guess it's not a very popular term.

[solri.livejournal.com]

I think you're being too generous. The discussion was definitely about self-censorship, although I admit that I sometimes go in for self-censuring. That's when I say "Bad Solri! Bad Solri!"

I'm reminded of the old Maoist days, when they had "criticism-self-criticism" sessions. Now that, I suppose, would be self-censuring!

[hyperina.livejournal.com]

yeh you're probably right, although if they had described it as self-flagellation, i still think it'd have been right, since they were wringing their hands about it before they (some of them) eventually capitulated, cuz they felt torn and bad. i can't even really grasp how true self-censorship would work, but i guess that's my problem! if the idea exists in your head, how can you really censor it from yourself? help, solri!

[solri.livejournal.com]

Since I wasn't sure whether there actually was such a word as "censureship", I just checked in the OED. It turns out that while "censor" and "censure" are different verbs, "censureship" is simply an archaic variant of "censorship". However, as far as I can tell from the examples, it refers more to the Roman office of censor than the modern sense of the word.

[vret.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be surprised if they were the same word originally.

Like ghost, guest and host.

[solri.livejournal.com]

Well "censor" is related to "census", since one of the jobs of the censor was keeping records of the population, but also, I presume, to "censura", "judgement". The verb is "censeo", meaning to judge, advise, evaluate or suggest, which covers pretty much everything! "Censure" is derived from French, and I suppose the French word came from the same Latin root.

[solri.livejournal.com]

Since 1790, as far as I can tell.