I was reading about the Russia-Belarus dispute over gas and started laughing almost immediately. Thankfully, the BBC (unlike some other publications, who could learn from this practice) calls the Belorussian President "Alexander Lukashenko" instead of "Lukashenka".
However, they followed Belorussian, rather than Russian, orthography to twist the common Russian name "Vladimir Semashko" into "Uladzimir Syamashka".
Apparently someone forgot to send them the memo that, even though there is a language called "Belorussian" (or, as they might like to spell it, "Belarusian" ), no one speaks it. "Officially" around 20% of the population knows it, but those people are really Poles living in the part of the country that was actually Poland before 1945 and the language they are speaking is, in actuality, Polish, but just spelled a little differently.
In actuality, the Republic of Belarus speaks Russian. Attempts at political correctness on the part of Western newspapers just seem silly in this respect.
The only thing I can think of that would be comparable to this absurdity is if the BBC (or the Economist, or whoever) were to refer to the Irish President, not as Mary McAleese, but as Máire Pádraigín Bean Mhic Ghiolla Íosa, out of deference to the five people left alive in Ireland who still speak Gaelic as their primary language.
However, they followed Belorussian, rather than Russian, orthography to twist the common Russian name "Vladimir Semashko" into "Uladzimir Syamashka".
Apparently someone forgot to send them the memo that, even though there is a language called "Belorussian" (or, as they might like to spell it, "Belarusian" ), no one speaks it. "Officially" around 20% of the population knows it, but those people are really Poles living in the part of the country that was actually Poland before 1945 and the language they are speaking is, in actuality, Polish, but just spelled a little differently.
In actuality, the Republic of Belarus speaks Russian. Attempts at political correctness on the part of Western newspapers just seem silly in this respect.
The only thing I can think of that would be comparable to this absurdity is if the BBC (or the Economist, or whoever) were to refer to the Irish President, not as Mary McAleese, but as Máire Pádraigín Bean Mhic Ghiolla Íosa, out of deference to the five people left alive in Ireland who still speak Gaelic as their primary language.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
The BBC is just silly.
22/06/2010 03:08:32 PM
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Ahem.
22/06/2010 03:26:42 PM
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Are you trying to get them to be able to pronounce it correctly or just use it?
22/06/2010 03:56:29 PM
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On that note
22/06/2010 06:17:56 PM
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And so are you
23/06/2010 01:02:07 AM
- 564 Views
Oh my God - this is one of the stupidest things I've seen posted on this site...ever.
23/06/2010 01:47:39 AM
- 366 Views
And still never able to beat you
23/06/2010 04:24:46 AM
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You seem to pretend there is a separate "Belorussian" people.
23/06/2010 06:02:12 AM
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If there is enough of people claiming they are what right do you have to say otherwise?
23/06/2010 06:54:28 AM
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