I don’t normally condone violence, but the next time I hear someone complaining that people are calling the Italian host of the 2006 Winter Olympics Turin, instead Turino (Toureenoe) they’re going to get hit!
I’m sitting in the sandwich shop having my lunch with Kate, doing my usual routine of flipping through the Toronto Sun whilst Kate does the crosswords, when I come across the Comments Section. This is the section where readers have their say and react to past columns or other current events.
Because the Sun is generally a right-wing paper, owned by right-wingers, with a mostly right-wing readership (except me, of course, I like their sports section and the Sunshine girl—usually), the Comments section is often a great catalyst for conversation between Kate and me. Usually we just make fun of how stupid the comments are. It makes us feel good…
At any rate, today, one comment in particular sparked a strong reaction from me, mostly because it’s just so asinine.
A reader wrote:
Coming from an Italian background, I am really tired of hearing Torino referred to as Turin. Can we please refer to the city by its proper name, Torino. I would really appreciate knowing where Turin came from.
Cristina Smith (her name has been changed to protect the inane)
And the editor’s response…
(Who ever heard of the Shroud of Torino?)
While the editor’s response kind of touched upon the reason this reader’s comment should be scrubbed from my memory with a wire brush, the sad fact of the matter is that this isn’t the first time I’ve heard this complaint. It’s not even the thousandth time! So let me ‘splain it a little more clearly for you Cristina (By the way, why don’t you spell your name the proper way…with an ‘H’ as in Christina?).
If Cristina had made that comment to me in person, I would probably respond by asking her this series of questions:
- What country are your parent’s from? Italy or Italia (eetaleea)?
- What is the capital of Italy? Rome or Roma (rrroma)?
- What is the capital of Portugal? Lisbon or Lisboa (Leeshboa)?
- What country is Berlin the capital of? Germany or Bundesrepublik Deutschland?
- How do you pronounce Montreal? Montreeall or Moereeall?
I could go on, but perhaps I have made my point.
You see Cristina, since we live in an anglophone society, we tend have an English word for most things, including country and city names.
I know it’s hard to believe Cristina, but it’s true! And it’s not only an English phenomenon, it’s pretty much a universal concept. For example, in English, your beloved Italia is pronounced Italy (italee), but in Polish it is spelled Wlochy (don’t ask me how to pronounce that) and in Hungarian it is Olaszország and in Russian it’s Италия.
There’s a simple reason for this. It is easier for us, as anglophones to wrap our tongues around and spell the word ‘Russia’ (for example) than ‘Россия’. I mean where the FUCK in the alphabet is the letter ‘я’?
What are you thinking?