Where the BBC lives
Has anybody but me noticed that the BBC news site not only always spells Kimi Räikkönen's name wrong (as Raikkonen), but also insists on calling Ireland "the Irish Republic"?
In the first case, "those dots" are important, they are different letters, not just accents on 'a' and 'o'. If you're not clear what I mean, the Finnish alphabet ends: x, y, z, ä, ö. Compared to the e, é, è and ê in French, which do not affect the alphabetic order of words.
In the second case, to the best of my knowledge, the Irish Republic was declared in 1916 and ceased to exist in 1922. Certainly, since the adoption of the constitution in 1937, the name of the country has been Ireland, and the description of the country has been the Republic of Ireland. So, you have an official name, and a name to use when you want to describe which country you mean. "The Irish Republic" was used for years by the likes of Ian Paisley, but I'd never really heard anybody else use it. Until the BBC started recently.
Both mistakes are used so consistently that it must be policy, not one or two mistakes that slip past editors. I won't accuse them of deliberate insult and offense (to Johnny Foreigner or Paddy), because I don't believe it is anything so easy. They must have people on staff who know the correct spelling and name, respectively. But what's going on?
In the first case, "those dots" are important, they are different letters, not just accents on 'a' and 'o'. If you're not clear what I mean, the Finnish alphabet ends: x, y, z, ä, ö. Compared to the e, é, è and ê in French, which do not affect the alphabetic order of words.
In the second case, to the best of my knowledge, the Irish Republic was declared in 1916 and ceased to exist in 1922. Certainly, since the adoption of the constitution in 1937, the name of the country has been Ireland, and the description of the country has been the Republic of Ireland. So, you have an official name, and a name to use when you want to describe which country you mean. "The Irish Republic" was used for years by the likes of Ian Paisley, but I'd never really heard anybody else use it. Until the BBC started recently.
Both mistakes are used so consistently that it must be policy, not one or two mistakes that slip past editors. I won't accuse them of deliberate insult and offense (to Johnny Foreigner or Paddy), because I don't believe it is anything so easy. They must have people on staff who know the correct spelling and name, respectively. But what's going on?