Posted on 08/01/2014 8:46:25 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
Homophones, as any English grammarian can tell you, are words that sound the same but have different meanings and often different spellings — such as be and bee, through and threw, which and witch, their and there.
This concept is taught early on to foreign students learning English because it can be confusing to someone whose native language does not have that feature.
But when the social-media specialist for a private Provo-based English language learning center wrote a blog explaining homophones, he was let go for creating the perception that the school promoted a gay agenda.
Tim Torkildson says after he wrote the blog on the website of his employer, Nomen Global Language Center, his boss and Nomen owner Clarke Woodger, called him into his office and told him he was fired.
As Torkildson tells it, Woodger said he could not trust him and that the blog about homophones was the last straw.
"Now our school is going to be associated with homosexuality," Woodger complained, according to Torkildson, who posted the exchange on his Facebook page.
Torkildson says he was careful to write a straightforward explanation of homophones. He knew the "homo" part of the word could be politically charged, but he thought the explanation of that quirky part of the English language would be educational.
Nomen has removed that blog from its website, but a similar explanation of homophones was posted there in 2011 with apparently no controversy.
Woodger says his reaction to Torkildson’s blog has nothing to do with homosexuality but that Torkildson had caused him concern because he would "go off on tangents" in his blogs that would be confusing and sometimes could be considered offensive.
-snip-
Interestingly, he was hired on April Fools’ Day.
(Excerpt) Read more at sltrib.com ...
Nomen owner Clarke Woodger should take some of his own classes.
>> Nomen Global Language Center, his boss and Nomen owner Clarke Woodger
There seems to be a fundamental phonetic problem with this operation.
Witch and which? Ask Stewey Griffin. He knows how to pronounce “which”. It’s the same way he pronounces “cool whip”.
There was a case a few years ago where someone was fired for using the word niggardly and later reinstated. Honest to Pete I wish people would use their heads for something other than to keep their ears apart.
Those cunning linguists must always be watched.
It’s when feelings and not reason govern the day that we get such arrant nonsense.
Another term for these word pairs is homonyms.
I think this guy was being a bit cutesy about it, but still. There was no need for anybody to lose his or her head over it.
Nomen... all women?
Homophonia = Is when don’t despise Gays but could care less what they do..
“Who blinded you, Polyphemus?”
“It was Noman! Noman blinded me.”
They’re going to pay beaucoup unemployment compensation.
Heal land on his feat.
Life is imitating art. There was an old Ted Rall comic from 02/08/99 that riffed language snafus. If you want to read it, it’s on rall dot com under 2-8-99 in the searchable archives.
I know folks don’t often care for Rall, but that example was funny enough for me to remember it.
Sofa. King. Stupid
Humorous, isn’t it...
You are a cunning linguist.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.