The Name Game, or, Mary gets her rant on

[marycrawford]

Is anyone else driven to distraction by persistently misspelled names in fanfic? (OK, that was a rhetorical question. :-)

I get especially fed up in Hercules: the Legendary Journeys, because half the names are mythological. Sure, the characters aren't always congruent with their mythological versions, but can we keep the names the same? Please? No need for a script to verify the spelling, all that's needed is a quick web search or a mythological dictionary.

Or a Handy Hint from Heloise, even:

Hercules' wife is Deianeira. Not Deineira or Deaneira or whatever.

Hercules' mother is Alcmene, or Alkmene if you want to be Greek about it. Not Alcemene, even though some of the actors pronounce it that way. (I think they had trouble with the 'km' sound.)

And for Zeus's sake, 'Thermopylae' is the name of a very famous battle, as well as one of Hercules' and Iolaus' signature moves. That's what's so neat about the name - it implies that this was something they first tried during that battle. Therefore, please don't spell it 'Thermopoly' or any variation thereof. That's a type of glass fiber.

Comments

[zoesmith.livejournal.com]

Don't let me start with that!

It doesn't help that I'm Greek. I tend to notice those things. And more. It can be really annoying sometimes.

Kisses, Zoe

[ltlj.livejournal.com]

Hey, it's a handy way to screen your reading material. If you see Iolaus spelled "iolus" in the summary, you know you don't even need to bother to skim the story!

[halimede.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Nitpicking. I love nitpicking. Some scientists propose that human beings developed so early hominids could rid themselves of fleas and lice, so you could say that we are all *born* to nitpick. So.

Having browsed mythological websites a lot (as can be inferred from my lj username) I get the impression the greeks didn't exactly have standardised spelling...

Also, the nitpicky geek next to me wishes me to relate that Thermopylae is actually the name of a mountain pass --named for the hotsprings there, hence the name 'pillars of fire'-- where the famous battle *of* Thermopylae took place.