Date:    Fri, 13 Feb 1998 05:33:05 EST
<br>From:    "Barry A. Popik"  Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM 
<br>Subject: All-American; America; Nagano
<br>
<br>ALL-AMERICAN
<br>
<br>     Yes, as previously noted, it's in the DA:  "1888 _Outing_ Nov. 166/2 The
<br>All-American team...is composed of men picked from the ranks of the
<br>representative ball teams of America."
<br>     This is a classic example of quoting too little.  Yes, the College
<br>Football Hall of Fame was correct that the first college football All-
<br>Americans were chosen in 1889.  You'd never know it from the quote, but it's
<br>about a BASEBALL All-American team!
<br>      And of course, we can antedate the earliest citation.  This is from
<br>SPORTING LIFE, 24 October 1888, pg. 5, col. 2:
<br>
<br>THE GREAT TRIP.  ("SPALDING'S AUSTRALIAN BASE BALL TOUR"--ed.)
<br>(...)
<br>   CHICAGO, Oct. 17.--Editor SPORTING LIFE:--Ere these lines meet the eyes of
<br>THE SPORTING LIFE'S readers the members of the Chicago and All-American teams
<br>will have departed upon their great trip to Australia and the greatest base
<br>ball invasion upon record thus inaugurated.
<br>(...)  Van Haliren will play short for the All-Americas.
<br>
<br>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<br>-------------------------------------------
<br>AMERICA
<br>
<br>     The "Columbus Day" posting that was recently reposted was part of a
<br>larger series of postings I made last year about the naming of America and
<br>Americans--on the 500th anniversary of John Cabot's voyage to North America.
<br>     The February 1964 AMERICAN SPEECH article "On the Naming of America" is
<br>incredibly awful and reaches the wrong conclusion.
<br>     Cecil Adams's THE STRAIGHT DOPE for September 28-October 4, 1994 (check
<br>archives on his web site) states the general problem that we really should be
<br>living in "Vespucciland."  He states:
<br>
<br>     There are a couple of theories on the name's origin.  One is that it's a
<br>variant of Enrico, the Italian form of Henry, and derives from the Old German
<br>Haimrich (in later German Emmerich, in English Americus), from _haimi_ (home)
<br>plus _ric_ (power, ruler).  Alternatively, it may come from the Old German
<br>Amalricus, from _amal_ (work) plus _ric_.
<br>
<br>     This theory--not considered in the AMERICAN SPEECH article--was
<br>extensively discussed in the very first article in NAMES (a journal of the
<br>American Name Society).  I believe it has a lot going for it.  What made the
<br>New York Post's Columbus Day article so putrid is that it stated that the
<br>people involved were FRENCH.  They were German.  Big difference!  Not only
<br>were their names German--as any idiot could see--but the point is that it
<br>possibly affected their work, which is the naming of "America."
<br>     Charles Godfrey Leland ("Hans Breitmann") wrote this in HANS BREITMANN'S
<br>BALLADS (1869), pg. 96:
<br>
<br>So also de name America,
<br>   If ve a liddle look,
<br>Vas coom from de oldt King Emerich
<br>   In de Deutsche _Heldenbuch_.
<br>
<br>     Was "America"--in addition to honoring Vespucci--a German joke?
<br>     Now I got these maps here, and these biographies here, and they're all
<br>over this tiny apartment, and it's gonna take some explainin'...
<br>
<br>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<br>-------------------------------------------
<br>NAGANO
<br>
<br>     I saw a story today on CNN Headline News.  The Japanese Embassy is being
<br>flooded with calls about how to pronounce "Nagano."
<br>     It makes me real angry.
<br>     When I proposed AMERICAN POPULAR SPEECH ONLINE, I suggested that it be a
<br>joint effort with the American Name Society.  One of the ideas I had is a
<br>pronunciation guide to names in the news.
<br>     A few years ago, everyone was asking about "Herzegovina."  Last year,
<br>someone in New York sports television asked about a new New York Yankees
<br>player from Japan, "Hideki Ir-AH-bu, IR-ah-bu, which is it?"
<br>     This is not the stuff of AMERICAN SPEECH or NAMES, but it is stuff that
<br>people need to know, and need to know immediately.  An online magazine of the
<br>ADS and ANS would be the authority to turn to first.
<br>     We'd be quoted on this, and we'd attract new members, perhaps.
<br>     Oh well!
<br>