Speech and Writing can Give Each Other the Comeuppance

       Seeing again today "Duck Tape" being sold on the shelves of a store, I recalled the similar peculiarity based in the news yesterday.

       The product generically is "duct" tape, so named for its special usefulness in sealing places where ducts join,  to prevent hot air or cold air from escaping containment.  Because "t" both ends duct and begins tape, it's easy to hear only one "t" and think the first word is "duck."  A "smart" manufacturer simply named its product "Duck" tape.

       Last night's PBS news had an interview with the prime minister of Scotland, someone I'd never heard of, Nicolas Sturgeon.  I heard she was a woman, and she clearly was when she came on screen.  I thought it peculiar that a woman was named Nicolas.

       Today's newspaper told me that she'd be interviewed on Fareed Zakaria's show, and I saw her name was Nicola, a name I'd only heard of once, and it belonged to a man.  I'd made the "s" from Sturgeon serve by hearing it also as the end of Nicola.

        In the first instance, the two "t"s shrink to one and make the first word "duck"; in the second instance it's easy to hear the single "s" as connected with both names and make the first name Nicolas. 

        Speech and writing sometimes give each other the comeuppance.