Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Higher Education...Really?

USC Misspells Shakespeare On Newly Unveiled Statue

usc_hecuba.jpg
Queen Hecuba statue (Screenshot via USC/Facebook)
Language is malleable, right? After all, a dictionary doesn't define a word's spelling, it simply gives the most common version of it. Well, how about a name?
UCLA's The Den tweeted Monday morning that a recently unveiled statue at the new $700 million USC Village displays a typo.
As the photo shows, a quote at the base of a Queen Hecuba statue unveiled this month as the centerpiece of the school's 1.2 million-square-foot development is attributed to "Shakespear's" Hamlet. The common spelling of the bard's name is "Shakespeare," of course, but don't tell that to USC.
“To E, or not to E, that is the question,” the school noted in a statement, reports the Associated Press. USC added that Shakespeare (yeah, we're sticking to this version) had his name spelled in a variety of ways and the University settled on a common 18th century spelling to match the “ancient feel” of the work. (We wish we could use such logic to squeeze out an A on our term papers.)
At the 20-foot tall statue's unveiling on August 17, it was noted that Hecuba, the queen of Troy, would serve as a counterpoint to the Tommy Trojan statue in the university's central quad.
“This is our commitment to all of the women of Trojan Family … who share the same spirit as the majestic queen of Troy,” C.L. Max Nikias, president of USC said at the statue's unveiling, notes USC News. The paper adds that Christopher Slatoff, a Trojan parent, spent two years on the sculpture. 

No comments: