(urth) On dream travelers

[Gerry Quinn]

From: "James Wynn" <crushtv at gmail.com>
>
>>> It has always seemed likely to me that "Gene" (if that is the ultimate 
>>> spelling) is an assimilation. Originally, the name was Jean. This seems 
>>> implied by the Aunt Jeanine's name, by the fact that all abo males are 
>>> named "John", and that twinnish, shared-dreams between VRT and Number 
>>> Five. Perhaps the English call him "Gene" because it looks like that the 
>>> way it is spelled.
>>
>> I disagree that there's evidence for assimilation.  The head of the 
>> household is still called Maitre.
>
> So? My friend's American kids call their aunt "Tia". Various familial 
> terms used within the Wolfe household mean nothing. There are plenty of 
> people with French surnames in the US that English pronunciation. Have you 
> never met anyone in the UK named Benet or Benoit who pronounces it as 
> spelled? Mr. Million predates the English-speakers taking over the colony. 
> You don't suppose they still speak French do you? I presume the Wolfes 
> still know how.

Sure, they speak English.  That doesn't change his name.


>> Besides, if he is called Gene because his name is spelt Jean then his 
>> name is still not Gene but Jean.
>
> Not necessarily for English. I don't know why this needs explaining.

You seem to be arguing that his name is Jean... then insisting that it is 
actually Gene.  Doesn't make a lot of sense.


>> As for the abo stuff, I don't think it's relevant.  The use of the name 
>> John tells us nothing about Gene,
>
> Slight quibble: This is should be "Because I disbelieve that "gene" is 
> merely a homonym for an English pronunciation for "jean", I therefore 
> believe the use of the name John tells us nothing about Gene."

No - I mean that the fact that all males of one tribe of aliens on another 
planet were once given the forename John is irrelevant to the name of the 
narrator whatever that name is and whatever its origins (in fact it is 
presumably a name given an ancestor by his mother on Earth and passed down 
to the cloned generations).


> Were you to accept the presupposition on which this argument is based, you 
> would see that John and Gene are indeed connected.
>
>> and I don't believe there is any connection between Number Five and the 
>> abos.
>
> Seems like an arbitrary bit of geography to choose to hold or die on,  but 
> okay.

Pointing out the extreme tenuosity of one of your arguments isn't choosing a 
point to stand or die on.

- Gerry Quinn