Stephen’s Hanukkah Fry Up
By Dan Friedman December 16, 2009
The bewildering world of the interTweet gets stranger day-by-day. Tom Cokill, a self-avowed Roman Catholic, followed his twitter post about Leeds United’s glorious victory over Accrington Stanley, with a correction of Stephen Fry’s spelling of Hanukkah.
Herewith the tweet from Stephen Fry, read by millions daily:
Just emerged from fun hannukah party at the Chief Rabbi’s house. Latkes and lox and bagel and blintzes. Hurrah. 12:26 PM Dec 14th from Tweetie
Herewith Tom Cokill’s response, read by tens, at least:
@stephenfry its spelt chanukah, and I’m roman catholic!! 2:39 PM Dec 14th from UberTwitter in reply to stephenfry
Now Jewish things move more slowly in Britain than in America, but you know that the spelling of Hanukkah, Chanukah gag is a bit old, when Robert Siegel on NPR did four years earlier.
Still, it hasn’t stopped people’s delight in transliteration, even at book-length.
Still, when Sir Stephen tells you that there are options, there are options:
@TomCokill Er… you’ve been misinformed. It’s actually Hebrew of course, but there are at least 4 perfectly permissible English versions. 3:09 PM Dec 14th from Tweetie in reply to TomCokill
And Tom, thus corrected, can take solace from watching Leeds United against Carlisle in the final of the Northern section of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
Worthy mentions to Benjamin Ivry and David Fagin.
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