Ode on a Grecian URL

Sunday, November 13, 2005

On extraneous graphemes

The stunning Alison ElliottTo judge from your hebdomadals and (especially) your exams, at least 60% of Middlemarch was written by an author named Elliott; about a further 15% was written by an Eliott, and the final 25% by an Eliot.

I'm sure the Elliott-ists among you are mistaking the surname of the author finest novel written in our language for that of the actress who stunningly portrays the wealthy American heiress Millie Theale in the finest cinematic adaptation of any book, 1997's The Wings of the Dove - Alison Elliott. Forgivable though this error is - Elliott is so remarkable acting in this genre that she might just have gone back in time, changed her first name, and written Middlemarch - it's probably best to write in more thorough orthographic accord with the pseudonym she took.

Two other remarks on this score: Mill, not Mills. This is an error I make constantly, so it's possible that your Mills-ing comes from having paid attention to me in class, something you should assiduously avoid doing.

Finally, and in an air of great futility: hebdomadal. Seriously: hebdomadal. Not hebdomal, or hebdamal, or any other trisyllabic variant.
:: posted by Mike, 10:00 PM