Each night, as I type my One Typed Page right after dinner when I type one, my wife reads whatever I come up with. She will comment on it. “oh, that was nice”, or “you are typing like a stoner there”, or sometimes nothing. Sometimes there is nothing to be said about whatever I write. Her comments are pretty spot on. Last night she commented, “You do know that it is spelled Brazil, with a Z.” I replied that the woman I was writing to, in Sao Jose do Rio, of Brasil, had spelled it with an S. So what is correct? Is it BraSil or BraZil? It depends.
I did a quick check online, your ever-dependable source of information, and ended up at “AboutBrasil, your starting point in Brazil” (Look it up.) The site has a page devoted to the topic. Duh, of course. Oh go have a read, it is entertaining. I will give you one quote “Until then (1897) there was not an official definition on how to spell the country’s name. ‘Brasil’ as well as ‘Brazil’ were both used, even in official documents like banknotes.” Can you imagine having a pair of banknotes with different spelling of the country’s name? And, it was not until 1945 that it was agreed on to use “Brasil”. That is if you are a Brasilian or a Portuguese citizen. The rest of the world could do as they pleased. It is pointed out that ‘Brazil’ “may be used in Portuguese documents in an anti-American or anti-globalist contexts.” Tell them that. There is also a page with, well it is titled “‘Brasil’ in other languages” with 34 countries listed and their spellings. Lots of trying to decipher which countries are aligned with which countries, or languages with which languages.
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Thus ends the first week of InCoWriMo. My Mom is the first person to be written. Which is good because today, February 7, is her birthday. And her present is not yet here to be forwarded to her. I have gone on to send a letter to a person on each continent inhabited by humans, Antarctica being one, the one without permanent residents.
If you have not yet joined the group, I encourage you to do so. Ignore the handwriting part and type to them, People do like to hear from you. And, I will bet, they really appreciate being able to read, actually read, whatever you have to say. Especially if you surprise them. A letter will get to the person you addressed it to in two or three days. Such a deal.
~~ MichaelRpdx :: rkmm 1948