Misspelled Mural

I know we linguists are all about descriptivism and not imposing standardized forms and so forth, so maybe I'm not supposed to think this is funny, but totally do—it's frickin' hilarious!

Money quote:

It didn't take a nuclear physicist to realize changes were needed after a $40,000 ceramic mural was unveiled outside the city's new library and everyone could see the misspelled names of Einstein, Shakespeare, Vincent Van Gogh, Michelangelo and seven other historical figures.

It's the artist's reaction that kills me. She's gives off that "easy to work with" vibe, oh yes she does:

"The importance of this work is that it is supposed to unite people," Alquilar said. "They are denigrating my work and the purpose of this work."

and

"The people that are into humanities, and are into Blake's concept of enlightenment, they are not looking at the words," she said. "In their mind the words register correctly."

Translation for mere mortals who don't speak High Art:

You puny insects could never understand the True Purpose of Art! How dare you criticize Me and My Work! You're just going to have to get used to my Higher Orthography, which you must never question. Library, schmibrary!

Oh, you want your forty thousand dollars back? Sorry, no can do—that's not how Art works!

I'm curious exactly how she misspelled the names. This article says, "'Shakespeare' is missing the second 'a,' Michelangelo includes an extra 'a' and 'Einstein' has one 'n' too few," and also mentions that "Alquilar also misspelled van Gogh, adding a rogue 'u' to the Dutch painter's name." So, that's "Shakespere" for sure, either "Einstei" or more likely "Eistein", and probably "van Gough", but where did she squeeze in an extra "a" in "Michelangelo"? I suppose "Michaelangelo" is the best bet.

[Now playing: "Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me" by Oingo Boingo]

Comments

[language hat]

This is indeed hilarious. But I have to point out that "Shakespere" is not a misspelling; it's one of the various ways he spelled his own name:
http://www6.tltc.ttu.edu/wgelber/Spellings.html
There was no Webster's Biographical Dictionary or AP style sheet back in the sixteenth century, and no concept of fixed spelling, even for family names.

[language hat]

This is indeed hilarious. But I have to point out that "Shakespere" is not a misspelling; it's one of the various ways he spelled his own name:
http://www6.tltc.ttu.edu/wgelber/Spellings.html
There was no Webster's Biographical Dictionary or AP style sheet back in the sixteenth century, and no concept of fixed spelling, even for family names.

[Big Ben]

It could also be argued that "Michaelangelo" is anglicized rather than misspelled. I'm pretty sure I've heard it pronounced that way by educated English speakers, even before the Ninja Turtles popularized it.

Of course, that the artist used potentially acceptable spellings of both "Michaelangelo" and "Shakespere" is undoubtedly due to luck and not esoteric knowledge on the part of the orthographically liberated artist.

[Angelo]

I wonder what she means by "that are into humanities". I'm offended! I consider myself "into humanities" and the words do _not_ register correctly in _my_ mind.

What is it with library art and misspelling? Many years ago, there was a huge "welcome" banner installed on the facade of the San Jose (CA) main public library downtown. It had "welcome" in the many languages spoken in the area. The Tagalog phrase was something like "Tuli po kayo". Unfortunately, this translates as 'You (formal) are circumcised'. Presumably, the phrase was supposed to be "Tuloy po kayo" 'Please come in (formal)'. It was of course corrected quickly.

[jam]

Blake routinely writes "Michael Angelo".