Then after a while I read the back cover, and was extremely shocked to see something...
Do you see it? "Mr. Knightly," right there on the back cover of my favorite adaptation of Emma.
OF ALL THE NERVE.
Well, it probably wasn't nerve.
OF ALL THE STUPIDITY.
Honestly. Now, if you have been spelling it "Knightly" and not knowing the difference, don't take offense. I used to do that, in fact... and then I learned that it was actually Knightley and was quite horrified at myself for ever having gotten it wrong. And anyway, Knightley just looks nicer. Knightley is a surname... knightly is a word.
However. It is beyond my comprehension that anyone who is admitted the pleasure of writing the back cover of a true-to-Jane-Austen version of Emma could not know how Knightley is spelled. Anybody with me on this? Is not it horrendous?
It actually rather amuses me at times to see people who think they know so much about Jane Austen... for instance, in The Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair Companion to Jane Austen, which I've flipped through once or twice, said "Pemberly." (It's Pemberley, peeps. What's up with missing the E's? E's are very nice. Use them. And whatever you do, don't say "Austin." Fortunately I've never seen that one on anything supposed to have been written by someone who Knows. :P) Or P&P spinoffs that say "Lizzie." The subtitles of the 2005 version (read that word very begrudgingly) also said "Lizzie," but that, you know, did not really surprise me. It's just in keeping with the general inaccuracy of the thing. Pleasedon'tkillmeP&P05fans.
I tend to like to rant about these things, in case you can't tell... but I'll have to end it now because it's time for dinner. ;)
P.S. In case you don't know what I was getting at up there about the Lizzie, it's Lizzy. With a Y. According to Jane Austen. And she knows, you know. :D
So glad I'm not the only one these things bug... ;) I read a perfectly good book the other day, and just once it mentioned something about JA. It referenced her (in this ONE TIME in the ENTIRE BOOK) as Austin. Of all the outrages!
ReplyDeleteSo I read the blurb on the back of the Emma dvd and I caught 'Knightly' right away - the funny thing is, I've seen the back cover before when I've borrowed it from the library and I didn't catch it - it is not to be borne!"
ReplyDeleteBlame the BBC's designers! Which still surprises me.
ReplyDelete*Guilty Look* I used to spell it "Pemberly"...
ReplyDeleteBut anyways... (I've since fixed that problem :-D)
You would think someone would have caught that. Meanwhile, they probably wouldn't fail to spell Keira Knightley's last name. It's like in my Pride and Prejudice/Sense and Sensibility sheet music book where they spell Edward's last name "Ferrar" (IT'S "FERRARS", PUBLISHERS!). Very vexing, indeed!
And yes! Someone else is annoyed when people spell "Lizzie" instead of "Lizzy"! :-D
I just discovered your blog, Melody.
ReplyDeleteA lover of libraries, a fury over spelling errors (yes to Es in Knightley, no to Es in Lizzy), and a devotee of the 1995 P&P (we will not speak of the 2005 "adaptation")! I should hang out here more often.
I can't believe I haven't found you before! Off to read old posts.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCharity,
ReplyDeleteOh, dear. That's quite horrid, indeed it is. It's very annoying when you see her name mentioned once in a random book... spelled wrong. I'm pretty sure it's happened to me before, but I can't place it. It's like, don't bother mentioning her if you don't even know enough about her to spell her last name right-- and it isn't hard, people. She's just not a city in Texas, that's all.
:P
Eva,
Haha, well, I actually edited the picture a tad so that it would be easy to notice the "Mr. Knightly". ;) Anyway, it is certainly not to be borne. ;)
Rhoswen Faerie Wrose,
Yes, exactly. I expected more from them.
Miss Lizzy,
Haha, well, to let you in on a little secret, so did I. But I did mend my ways, as you see. ;)
Haha, I was thinking the same thing about Keira Knightley! Sometimes I feel like saying Kiera Knightly... just to Be That Way. :P
Ferrar... oh wow. You know, I'm pretty sure that name was spelled wrong in Just Jane, too... I think she said "Ferras". Oh, and it might have been "Knightly" in that one too. Dear, dear! That gives it away that Nancy Moser is probably not a true Janeite--just wants to sell a book! ;P
"Lizzy" is just so much better.
Heather M.,
I'm glad you found me! :) It's so much fun meeting kindred spirits, which you most certainly are if you're like me in those respects. ;) Hope you come around often!
Oh, and since you seem to be a devotee of the 1995 P&P, I recommend you check out The P&P95Forever Club (pandp95forever.blogspot.com) which I recently made with a fellow blogger and dear friend of mine. :)
Okay, now I'm totally hopping up to check the back of my DVD cover! ... Ha, wow! That's pretty bad! Maybe their spell checkers changed it? My spell checker always tells me that Knightley (it did it!) is wrong. :(
ReplyDeleteSeeing names and place names misspelled bugs me no end. I want to give a lecture sometime saying: "It's Knightley not Knightly. It's Darcy not D'Arcy or even Darcey. It's Pemberley not Pemberly. It's Lizzy Bennet not Lizzie Bennett. It's Anne Elliot not Ann Elliott. It's Captain Benwick not Bennick (but it is pronounced like that). It's Fanny not Fannie. It's Willoughby not Will-o-bee (yes I have actually seen that!). It's Ferrars not Ferris. It's Marianne and not Mary-Ann. It's Elinor Dashwood and Eleanor Tilney. And it's always Catherine and never Katherine. Yes, it is spelled 'Love and Freindship'. Austin is a city in Texas and Austen is The Authoress. And for pity's sake Miss Austen's first name was Cassandra and her younger sister was just Miss Jane. (Although I've transgressed on that one in the past.)"
Okay, done ranting now. :D
Hi Melody! I have tagged you so take a look @ my blog, An Accomplished Young Lady.
ReplyDeleteWhat dastardly individuals those DVD cover peeps must be. All the intelligence of a backwards clam and the IQ of a rabbit.
ReplyDeleteHeehee.
I noticed some misspellings in Just Jane as well... SIGH. I really can't decide if I like or dislike that book.
Oh, and Miss Laurie-- your rant pleased me mightily. :D
I wonder if some of the name changes such as Marianne to Mary-Ann, Lizzy to Lizzie is due to trying to Americanize some of the names? Although, on the DVD it should be spelled correctly. It would be interesting to see if perhaps some of the authors/publishing company is American or British and then compare it to the spelling of the names in the book. For example I know that in the united states defense is spellled with the s but in the UK it has a c instead of the s. That is the only thing reason why I can think of the change in the spelling is due to what country it was produced from or the audience perhaps to what spelling they are used too.
ReplyDeleteQuite amusing isn't it? It's shocking that they would get away with it. :) I'm reading Emma right now and adore it. I can't decide whether I like this one (2009) or the older one (1996, I think) better! I like the Harriet in the new one way better though!But I like the Mr. Knightley in the old one tons better than the new one.... so hard to decide! :) :)
ReplyDeleteAmusing isn't it? Shocking that they would get away with it! I'm reading Emma right now and love it! I can't decide whether I like this one (2009) or the old one (1996, I think) better! I have to say though that I love the new Harriet way better than the old.. and love the Mr. Knightley in the old version way better than in the new. :D Emma's so naughty.. x)
ReplyDeleteMiss Laurie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mousie--your rant was indeed mightily pleasing. Hear, hear, I second the motion, and all that.
The Google Chrome spell checker used to tell me Knightley was wrong, so then I simply added it to its poor ignorant dictionary. ;)
By the bye, once I did start giving a friend of mine a lecture like that one. Well, not quite a lecture, and I didn't cover as much ground; but it stared out with how it's Austen with an E, and then I went on to talk about Knightley and Lizzy and Bennet... haha.
Captain Bennick would be a sure sign of a person who has only seen the movies and not read the books. ;)
I must say, however, that I don't mind Jane Austen being called Miss Austen. If her sister was present or if there was a need to differentiate she would have been Miss Jane or even Miss Jane Austen, but as Mr. Darcy called Elizabeth "Miss Bennet" when Jane wasn't about or being discussed, I'm sure our Jane was Miss Austen. (And besides, "Miss Austen" is much better than just "Austen"--that is what tends to bug me. ;) Dickens, certainly. Eliot, yes. Gaskell, quite possibly. But Austen? I think not.)
Twinnie,
Hahaha, I giggled over your rabbit and clam thing. ;D Heehee, in point of fact, m'dear, I remembered about the misspellings in Just Jane because you mentioned it to me after you'd finished reading it, and it was about a year ago so I was looking at the email recently. ;) When I read Just Jane was around the time I started blogging, so I wasn't noticing those things yet. (Heh.) I like the book because it's about Jane Austen, but dislike it because the author doesn't seem to be a Janeite. And her writing annoys me. (Pardon my bluntness. ;P)
Crafts4Others,
Well, if you ask me, I think it rather... well, silly... to try to Americanize the names of Jane Austen characters. They are not American, and should not be thought of as such. I might understand changing Lizzy to Lizzie if one was making a spinoff set in America. But it's not as if you're not going to understand the name Lizzy or Marianne. (And as to Marianne, from what research I've done I believe it is a form of Marian, and not supposed to be two separate names, like Mary Ann, at all. Although for the record I much prefer Marianne to Marian.)
Yes, you're right, lots of words are different with C's and S's between the UK and US, and I've noticed in some editions the spellings of words are Americanized... but it also seems that some words like that are becoming either-way-will-do over in England. ;) But with characters, spelling should remain intact. I think some people just assume the names will be spelled this way, and then don't bother to check. ;)
I appreciate your comment!
Miss Evelyn,
Shocking indeed! I adore Emma too. I must beg to differ, though, when it comes to Mr. Knightley; I'm a big fan of Jonny Lee Miller's. (There are two versions from 1996, but I think you mean the Gwyneth Paltrow one.) I will admit, though, that the first, perhaps even first couple or few, times I saw Emma 2009 I still preferred the old Mr. Knightley. Mr. 2009 certainly grew on me, as did Romola Garai, and the entire adaptation! (Though I did like it to begin with.) I especially appreciated JML's Knightley after I'd read the book, too.
Thanks for your comment!
Well..... I have to admit that I actually haven't watched the new Emma. I probably should've mentioned that! So my opinion is only formed by pictures and the watching of 1 clip from the movie. :D I'm not all against people who don't like 'the old Mr. Knightly' it's fine. But if we're talking about Mr. Darcy.... now that's a whole other story. x)
ReplyDeleteI say! Well, my dear Miss Evelyn, I must heartily recommend you watch the 2009 version posthaste and see all the characters in action! You can't tell an actor by his picture much better than you can read a book by its cover. ;) But definitely: the newer Mr. Darcy isn't even Mr. Darcy. If Colin Firth is the older Mr. Darcy to which you allude, I most thoroughly concur. ;)
ReplyDeleteI will, don't worry! As soon as I can get it from the library. :D I'm sorry I formed opinions without seeing the them in action. x) Yes, I was referring to Colin Firth... :D I'm glad we agree on this point!
ReplyDeleteBtw, would you be willing to look at my blog and tell me what you think?
Miss Evelyn,
ReplyDeleteColin Firth's Mr. Darcy will forever have my support. Unless the BBC makes another and even better (if that be possible) miniseries with an even more true-to-the-book Mr. Darcy which I do believe IS possible (and of which I am more convinced the more I read the book), but as it is I think he's remarkable. And personally, I can do without the wet shirt. Entirely.
Your blog looks lovely! Looks like you just got started. I started my blog on the first of January too, back in 2011. Good day to start a blog... it's easy to remember the date. ;) I'd love to read a review of any of the Emmas if you ever write them! ;)
I love Colin Firth as Darcy! I wish he would smile more though. :D I agree that they could make him closer to the book, but if this is close as they can get than I love it!!!!
ReplyDeleteYep,I started my blog January 1st. Like literally.. I think I created it like 20 minutes from Midnight New Years Eve. XD I will consider doing and Emma review, especially since I just finished the book! Btw, I watched the 2009 version of it and absolutely LOVED it!! I do think the new Mr. Knightly does a better job of portraying him. Even if I like the looks of the old one, I have to admit I like the new one better. :) One thing I liked better is that he talked more. :)