Language tag too specific

CE Whitehead cewcathar at hotmail.com
Wed Mar 20 22:41:54 CET 2013


Hi.

    Doug Ewell 
    doug at ewellic.org
       

    Wed Mar 20 15:32:29 CET 2013> I agree with Mark that trying to apply language tags to personal names
> in this sort of context is confusing, overly pedantic, and
> counterproductive. The whimsical examples with intervening spaces and
> full stops being tagged as "English" only prove the point further.

> Trying to assign "language" to a personal name is especially problematic
> for a name like Richard, which (regardless of its origins) has been
> native to at least English, French, and German for centuries.
Yes, and if "Bob" is not French, "Robert" can be, and many people also do take names that seem to belong to other languages/ethnicityies -- thus you have "Bob l'eponge".
(Is "Catherine" French while "Kate" German? In any case, reading this thread cheered me up for some reason, and also did wonders for the lyme disease in my legs and feet, so cheers!)

Best,
--C. E. Whitehead
cewcathar at hotmail.com
 > --
 > Doug Ewell | Thornton, CO, USA
> http://ewellic.org | @DougEwell ­

 
 		 	   		  
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