Intriguing explanation of the v/b confusion in Spanish orthography

It’s all Microsoft’s fault, says a member of the Catalan hanging and flogging brigade.

The deadly fall of a one-man crime wave called Mohamed Reda in Salt the other day has the the good citizens of Cataloonia crowding the comments section of El Periódico in celebration. The spelling is moderately mingy, but Alexis (22/01/2011 12:19) has at least found an explanation for a popular clanger:

PERDON POR LO DE “VUENOS”,QUERIA DECIR BUENOS (ES QUE LA “V” Y LA “B” ESTAN JUNTOS EN EL TECLADO!

His idea is interesting because if by leftward displacement buenos -> vuenos then we might be close to an explanation as to why so often buenos also becomes guenos, “g” being directly northwest of “b”.

The lack of a corresponding rightward shift (buenos -> nuenos or huenos) is obviously down to the right-/left-handed balance in the population, and let’s face it: the whole bottom row is pretty inaccessible if you–like most commenters at El Periódico–are slouched over the caps key and typing with your nose, your hands and penis being generally engaged in a sweet little conversation of their own.

Seseo: what do you expect if keyboards colocate the “z” and “s” with that pool of drool next to your chin?

Beaten at school for his shocking spelling, Notreanus told his masters that there was no point in trying and foretold to their amazement Muslim hordes from the south, armed with keyboards and led by the Antichrist, Grand Ayatollah Gates.

Similar posts


Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *