Regarding my last blog entry: the full actual text of the translated article is here https://en-gb.facebook.com/GeorgeTrailTranslator/posts/2342677789155612?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCiWE4G4Ws5tXLyD_bxKLfBR6swQW7MaCIRZzRTLuQQyuN4fzcv6hQue-vBcGLRvs4kGrX5FVDZh9NuYK5rm2NVES03eeaxzLr1vhWLdTC2jso-w3JlGQFif4x1KICvCCT9Wnu0UoPRUBcZ2Ff2GUSZDo_nznRIOv_xivRTQPnwJbE1vFICpXKe16IlQrfUIxwkzbp2uT1HmR1QuIJ7jA87MhngeG-cO1gdomNCWxPjS6qRhU5lJj7ZLxDzED2q5ciYKG5QYSNcmkhsYLz3bwi6GSZ0VisLgQXmqUswZ7EgtVvHnS2KJvFLjpunOW660fPuV1kYV3Fgr6WJrY8vQw&__tn__=K-R
MY RESPONSE TO THE GERBIL-JERBOA INCIDENT
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9341741/bbc-mastermind-champion-incorrect-answer/
Did you hear this story? Maybe I have wasted time writing and posting this but this is a professional translator’s – a professional linguist’s – response to it… I’m hoping it will be taken more definitively than the average offhand rambling about it that is only too easy when one is feeling idle.
Surely, basically, the only thing that matters is that they just misheard her answer as the correct one – a common mistake and that’s all there is to it, and the only reason it has been depicted as a big deal is because of the show’s ratings. Mind you, I would find it easy to believe that more people know what a gerbil is compared to how many know what a jerboa is. And consider the circumstances: on the TV show Mastermind, they don’t waste time when they are asking question after question because of the timer, and they would have had the answers right in front of them, hence the very believable scenario: “What is the mascot of the Army’s Desert Rats?”, “Gerb[indistinct syllable]” [while the person asking the question is reading the correct answer along with the question that they have just asked right in front of them on a card or a screen], “Correct” [and that’s it]. It is reported here that the woman said she could hear her voice drop when she said it – I think it’s not unlikely at all that she just didn’t go out of her way to specifically and distinctly pronounce “gerbil” /ˈdʒəːbɪl/, just as people usually pronounce “fish and chips” /fɪʃntʃɪps/ rather than /fɪʃ and tʃɪps/. And it’s claimed here that she said she thought “jerboa” was pronounced /dʒəːbəʊ/ rather than /dʒəːbəʊə/ – why not, when the “a” in the word “cocoa” isn’t pronounced? Still, it’s not like “gerbil” and “jerboa” aren’t both credible answers when this is the Army’s Desert Rats we are talking about.
To be honest, I had never heard of a jerboa before, but we are supposed to believe that this woman did (I don’t mean that as sarcasm). But I was surprised to see that Wikipedia says that the gerbil got its name as a diminutive form of “jerboa”, which it also defines as an unrelated group of rodents, and that strikes me as confusing. A jerboa actually looks very different from a gerbil; I find a jerboa’s appearance rather peculiar: sort of like a miniature rabbit with the legs of an ostrich and a long tail.
Now I discuss contextual factors outside of looking at the subject from a purely linguistic / academic angle. So how much fire has the BBC really come under over this story anyway? While both gerbils and jerboas are known to live in arid environments such as deserts, I have known for ages that people keep gerbils at pets. Try to understand that the domesticated disposition of lots of gerbils today is a far throw from something like the Army’s Desert Rats – maybe that’s why someone made a supposed display of outrage by saying “My Desert Rat father will be turning in his grave” – much as both gerbils and jerboas are without a doubt hardy animals, while the fortitude of our armed forces speaks for itself. Although, personally, I would have thought that most people would be very displeased to see our armed forces compared to rodents.