Maxwell Institute And " Utahans"

[Scott Lloyd]

The word "Utahans" looks weird -- like it should be pronounced "oota-hance."

[Scott Lloyd]

Looks like it is just word or phrase incidence taken from a sample from 5.2M books ... If I'm reading this correctly.  Certainly not a perfect indicator.  But interesting nonetheless.  I wonder if the data is skewed because Google may have less access to works currently not in the public domain?  But then again, I do see a lot of new releases sold via Google Books so perhaps Google has access to that data as well.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Ngram_Viewer

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Ngram_Viewer

The fact that they only track books may have some influence on the results. I would surmise the most frequent use of Utahn would be in newspapers and other print periodicals -- and local ones at that.

[sethpayne]

The fact that they only track books may have some influence on the results. I would surmise the most frequent use of Utahn would be in newspapers and other print periodicals -- and local ones at that.

 

Good point.  I wonder if they will begin to include newspapers (assuming WP is correct about the sample consisting only of books).  They are digitizing those as well.  Funny that they are 100 years off with their "earliest" scan of the DN.

 

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Aul-kAQHnToC

Edited July 9, 2014 by sethpayne

[mfbukowski]

My typos or grammatical errors are generally not packed with obscured meaning.

Oh yeah, sure.

You can't fool me with that- I read them backwards and know what's REALLY in them.

[Analytics]

I have a hard time imagining that the folks at the Maxwell Institute took the time to contemplate and write a rule: "When referring to the people of Utah, use 'Utahan', and not the provincial spelling 'Utahn'."

 

My best guess is that Blair simply used the spelling dictionary included with Microsoft Word.  According to Microsoft spell checker (Word 2013 at least), the correct spelling is "Utahan." 

 

Perhaps we should start a new thread about why the folks at Microsoft would do such an offensive thing?

 

Seriously, if there is in fact a trend towards the "Utahan" spelling, I would guess that the Microsoft spell checker is driving it.

[Kenngo1969]

... Seriously, if there is in fact a trend towards the "Utahan" spelling, I would guess that the Microsoft spell checker is driving it.

The Evil Empire?

[Scott Lloyd]

I have a hard time imagining that the folks at the Maxwell Institute took the time to contemplate and write a rule: "When referring to the people of Utah, use 'Utahan', and not the provincial spelling 'Utahn'."

Perhaps not. But it is not extraordinary for professional publishers -- or broader organizations engaged in professional publishing -- to adopt sets of style guidelines, the purpose of which is to promote typographical and literary consistency, which is regarded as a mark of professionalism. Usually, such guidelines are continuously compiled, with entries added as questions occur and are resolved.

Thus, it is not that difficult or unreasonable for me to conceive that the august worthies at the Maxwell Institute at some point determined they would use a word to denote Utah residents that they deemed would put them in good stead with their academic pals and peers instead of a more locally conventional term that would make their output more reader-friendly to residents of the state.

My best guess is that Blair simply used the spelling dictionary included with Microsoft Word. According to Microsoft spell checker (Word 2013 at least), the correct spelling is "Utahan."

As I indicated earlier, I'm now leaning toward the belief that Blair made the choice on his own part. But it's not because I think he is apt to slavishly follow the dictates of less-than-optimal spell-check software. As I've indicated, I have higher regard for his skill, facility and gumption than that.

Perhaps we should start a new thread about why the folks at Microsoft would do such an offensive thing?

No great mystery here. I'm fairly certain they, like other outsiders, never bothered to investigate the matter or never thought it through carefully. One might call it reverse provincialism.

And unlike, Microsoft, the Maxwell Institute is based in Utah. Moreover, it focuses its academic energies and attention on a religious faith whose headquarters is in Utah, a faith whose adherents founded the state and whose highest concentration of membership is in a locale where the people are more apt to refer to themselves as Utahns than "Utahans."

Seriously, if there is in fact a trend towards the "Utahan" spelling, I would guess that the Microsoft spell checker is driving it.

That may well be the case.

Edited to add:

On principle, I have now added Utahn to the spell checker dictionary of my version of Microsoft Word.

Edited July 13, 2014 by Scott Lloyd

[Tiki]

How about  Utahouyhnhnm? *

If you're ever caught mispronouncing "Utahan" you could just hold your nose while mumbling it.

 

*with apologies to Jonathan Swift

[Sethbag]

I guess it really is true that to some defenders there is no hill too small or insignificant to be willing to die on.

 

Wow.

[Mark Beesley]

I guess it really is true that to some defenders there is no hill too small or insignificant to be willing to die on.

 

Wow.

Hear! Hear!

Incredible.

[juliann]

I guess it really is true that to some defenders there is no hill too small or insignificant to be willing to die on.

 

Wow.

 

So you came for the funeral?   I knew you liked us!

[katherine the great]

Could be worse.  I live in Idaho and my niece calls us Idaho-hoes.  

[Guest]

It is within the province of any publisher to promote its publications through activities such as book signings, meet-the-author events, etc.

 

I certainly do not fault them for that.

Your thread reminds me of a comedy about the the founding fathers. In it John Adams and Jefferson Davis are arguing over a word, which then turns to their respective schools.

[Sethbag]

So you came for the funeral?   I knew you liked us!

Call me when the funeral's really on, and I promise I'll be there!  :-)

I just couldn't help myself, actually.  I'm not even very active on MDB right now either, but someone brought this thread to my attention and I simply could not believe what I'd read.  I mean, wow.  Tongue-in-cheek I could totally get it, but I'm pretty sure Scotty Dawg is for real on this.

[Scott Lloyd]

By the way, I grew up in Massachusetts.  Honestly, I don't even really recall what the real term is - I'm guessing it's probably not Massachusettsians. 

You have a few options.

 

The United States Government Printing Office officially recognizes Massachusettsan.

 

Beyond that, there are some other designations: Bay Stater, the official term used by the state government, and the traditional Massachusite.

 

By the way, Sethbag, if you intend to hold forth on my thread, you will refrain from vulgarity and from hostile, Scratchian-coined nicknames.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

Your thread reminds me of a comedy about the the founding fathers. In it John Adams and Jefferson Davis are arguing over a word, which then turns to their respective schools.

Jefferson Davis a Founding Father?

 

Oh, I get it. A founder of the Confederacy.

 

Edited to add:

 

Or did you mean Thomas Jefferson?

Edited July 11, 2014 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

I guess it really is true that to some defenders there is no hill too small or insignificant to be willing to die on.

Wow.

Nobody's dying here. Just engaging in light banter on a pet annoyance.

And it's not a hill -- unless you endeavor to make into one. Really, if it's so small and insignificant, why are you getting so angry over it?

[Guest]

Jefferson Davis a Founding Father?

 

Oh, I get it. A founder of the Confederacy.

 

Edited to add:

 

Or did you mean Thomas Jefferson?

Sorry...Southern Slip up... Yes Tomas Jefferson.

Anyway in the movie one went to William and Mary, and the other ?

[Analytics]

I asked Google how many documents containing "Utahans" and "Utahns" are hosted under byu.edu:

 

Utahns: about 5,210

Utahans: about 10,200

 

Ironically, Google prefers Utahns--when I did the second search which produced the larger set of results, it asked me, "did you mean Utahns?"

 

I then repeated the search for articles that contained both spellings, hoping to find a BYU style guide that puts the issue to rest, or at least an editorial or blog bemoaning how ostentatious "Utahans" is.  The first page of the 312 Google results were all from The Daily Universe.  For example:

 

Unemployment takes its toll on Utahns

September 25, 2012

 

The recent rise in unemployment to six percent in the state of Utah takes its toll on Provo locals who are struggling to get by...The point two percent increase in joblessness doesn’t seem like much, but it is. That’s almost three thousand more Utahans who are now unemployed.

- See more at: http://universe.byu.edu/2012/09/25/unemployment-takes-its-toll-on-utahns/#sthash.4cYqRKcT.dpuf

 

Now, some may suppose that the author used the spell check in the body of the article but not in the title.  I have way too much respect for this college journalist to think he'd do such a thing.  Rather, it is clear to me that the author is a pretentious windbag who used the spelling "Utahan" to impress the Ivy League graduate schools to which he is applying, while the paper's title editor is a Utah yokel who doesn't care that his spelling of the word proliferates negative stereotypes of people from his backwater state.

[Analytics]

I did another more refined search, and I found the definitive answer is in fact in the BYU Style Guide ("Clear, consistent standards for BYU documents").

 

It does in fact say:

 

Utahn (not Utahan)

 

http://styleguide.byu.edu/index.php?action=view&letter=U

 

It's definitive.  The apostates who now have control of the Maxwell Institute are using their own style guide in a deliberate attempt to undermine the authority of BYU and the brethren.

 

A church discipline counsel is in order.

 

(note: council is deliberately misspelled in order to annoy the author of the OP)

[mnn727]

If you are not a Texan, it really doesn't matter what you are called - you'll always be 2nd class.    

[Scott Lloyd]

I asked Google how many documents containing "Utahans" and "Utahns" are hosted under byu.edu:

 

Utahns: about 5,210

Utahans: about 10,200

 

Ironically, Google prefers Utahns--when I did the second search which produced the larger set of results, it asked me, "did you mean Utahns?"

 

I then repeated the search for articles that contained both spellings, hoping to find a BYU style guide that puts the issue to rest, or at least an editorial or blog bemoaning how ostentatious "Utahans" is.  The first page of the 312 Google results were all from The Daily Universe.  For example:

 

 

 

- See more at: http://universe.byu.edu/2012/09/25/unemployment-takes-its-toll-on-utahns/#sthash.4cYqRKcT.dpuf

 

Now, some may suppose that the author used the spell check in the body of the article but not in the title.  I have way too much respect for this college journalist to think he'd do such a thing.  Rather, it is clear to me that the author is a pretentious windbag who used the spelling "Utahan" to impress the Ivy League graduate schools to which he is applying, while the paper's title editor is a Utah yokel who doesn't care that his spelling of the word proliferates negative stereotypes of people from his backwater state.

In a typical newspaper's newsroom, the headline is written by somebody different than the author of the article. Traditionally, a copy desk manages headline and caption writing, story placement, layout, copy editing, etc.

 

If the BYU Universe is managed as it was when I worked there back in the '70s (and granted, things have changed a great deal since then), the headline would have been written by a student who was more experienced and advanced than the one who wrote the story, who would have been in the basic reporting class.

 

Of course, the copy editor should have caught the style error in the story.

 

And it is a style error. I found a copy online of the "Supplement to the 2011 AP Stylebook - The Universe," and an entry there mandates "Utahn not Utahan." The Universe is and always has been a laboratory newspaper, which means it is staffed by students who are learning how to ply their chosen profession. Style and other errors are inevitable.

 

As for the number of Google hits you got, well, maybe it is a condition on campus that's transcends the Maxwell Institute -- which would make sense if the Institute as currently constituted was spawned by the broader milieu.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

I did another more refined search, and I found the definitive answer is in fact in the BYU Style Guide ("Clear, consistent standards for BYU documents").

 

It does in fact say:

 

 

 

http://styleguide.byu.edu/index.php?action=view&letter=U

 

It's definitive.  The apostates who now have control of the Maxwell Institute are using their own style guide in a deliberate attempt to undermine the authority of BYU and the brethren.

 

Amazing to hear that, having heard all this time from some quarters who were oh so sure that it was the Brethren who decreed the ouster of Peterson et al from the Instiutute.

 

A church discipline counsel is in order.

 

(note: council is deliberately misspelled in order to annoy the author of the OP)

 

So long as you recognize the error of your ways, I'm content.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

If you are not a Texan, it really doesn't matter what you are called - you'll always be 2nd class.    

Well, having been in San Antonio very recently, I must acknowledge that no American city I know outdoes the River Walk.

 

By the way, mnn727, I notice you call yourself a Texan, not a Texasan.

 

I wonder why that is (wink wink, nudge nudge) .

Edited July 11, 2014 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

By the way, Analytics, I just now caught three more style errors just in the little snippet you posted from the Universe story:
 

 

The recent rise in unemployment to six percent in the state of Utah takes its toll on Provo locals who are struggling to get by...The point two percent increase in joblessness doesn’t seem like much, but it is. That’s almost three thousand more Utahans who are now unemployed.

 

Instead of "six percent," it should have been 6 percent.

 

And it should be .2 percent increase, or two-tenths of a percent increase, not "point two percent increase."

 

Finally, it should be 3,000 more Utahns, not "three thousand more Utahans."

 

This is assuming the Universe goes by Associated Press style, which, according to its own "Supplement to the 2011 AP Stylebook - The Universe," it does.

 

As I said, these are students, and everybody has to learn somewhere, sometime.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Scott Lloyd