30077: Benson: (comments) Spelling matters

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: LeGrace Benson
RE: Spelling matters

All those of us who are incompetent or even terrible typists really need to
turn on our spell checks for these postings.  One just went by that had over
two dozen errors in three or four paragraphs, rendering the message suspect
concerning the age and education of its writer.  Early on this list I was
infamous for typos and uncorrected spelling, using an email program that
made changes only with great, time-consuming efforts. I got a new email
program as fast as I could, preferring to produce jokes more deliberately.
One effect of wrong spelling is to imply that the topic is not important
enough to take the extra bit of care.  The topics on this list seem mostly
to be worthy of our respectful attention.


A bigger issue is with the orthography of the Haitian creole religion.  In
French books until recently, it was either most frequently  “Voudou” or
“Vodoun.” (Note the capitalization.)  In Hollywood movies it was always “”
voodoo,” in lower case except where part of a title.  This word has become
the carrier of the idea of trickery, as in “voodoo economics,” or (!)
“voodoo football”.  It is embedded in the language now and no getting it
until it passes out of fashion.  In American and much European scholarly
publication and in careful general publications, the preferred spelling is
“Vodou”.  For example, the title for the comprehensive exhibition and
catalogue produced by Donald Cosentino and others, and which traveled to
major cites across the United States, is The Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou.
KOSANBA (Congrés Santa Barbara), an association for studies and publications
about Vodou, urges this capitalized spelling for several reasons:
(1)     It differentiates a serious religious belief system from the
destructively fictionalized presentations of Hollywood and pulp novels.
(2)     The capitalization marks its correct place in the various religions
of the world, all of which, e.g. Jain, Bahai, Judaism, Islam, etc. are
capitalized in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Kreyol, etc.
(3)     This orthography more nearly relates to the pronunciation in Haitian
Kreyol, the main language of its ceremonies and songs.  When the religion is
presented in major, mass publications as “voodoo,” the presentation of Haiti
and Haitians continues to be put forth with a degree of disrespect.  Since
such disrespect is probably unintentional, I urge writers, including those
posting on Corbettland, read by thousands, to use one of the correct forms.
KOSANBA strongly advocates the use of Vodou.