[Dialogue] trans..dane

[John Epps]

A little more on the glossalalia.

The curious thing is how a term that, since it referred to "across the Po 
river" and logically should have been "transpodane" as we once used it, 
actually got transmogrified (to use a term from Calvin & Hobbs) into the 
correct "transpadane" that Gordon so astutely identified. We did discover 
the anomaly in producing the JWM book, so you will note that the lecture in 
question is now properly named "Transpadane Christianity" thanks to the 
etymological sleuthing of John Cock. Anyway, here's my theory, totally 
unencumbered by facts.

When French and Italian people pronounced the word for "across the Po," the 
accent was on the first and third syllables, not the second. The second 
syllable came out as an "uh" (as in the second syllable of cafeteria). I 
believe the proper designation for this sound is an upside down "e" in 
writing phonetically.

When the British with all their proper emphasis on pronunciation heard the 
"uh" sound, they simply heard it as a foreshortened "ah." Then, in 
transcribing their auditory illusion, they spelled it "a," which, as every 
proper UK enthusiast knows, is pronounced "ah." Hence the original intent 
of saying "Transpodane" or "beyond the Po river" (or beyond the farthest 
reaches of our insular civilization) came out looking like "Transpadane" or 
"beyond the a," which, of course, could mean anything from "b" to "z." That 
probably also holds the basic intent of the word. Of course it could also 
be interpreted as meaning "beyond a Dane" which would leave out Hamlet but 
could include other Scandinavians as well as the rest of the world. But 
that's simply speculative.

Now you see why it will take some time before the complete glossary of JWM 
inventions is ready.

John Epps

LENS International (M) Sdn Bhd
5th Fl, Tower 1 Wisma MCIS
Jalan Barat
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Malaysia
on the web at <www.lensinternational.com>
email: <jlepps at pc.jaring.my>