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Author
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Topic: Spelling of flight director Gene Kranz' name
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Mike_The_First
Member Posts: 436
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2014
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posted 02-24-2017 11:15 AM
   
I'm curious about this, as it seems wholly unique to flight director Gene Kranz: why is his name constantly misspelled?How did it start? Was there a misspelled credit somewhere along the line that people picked up on and cling to? I'm not trying to disparage anyone; I'm just surprised that, with all the more complicated names in the hobby, Gene's is the only one that's misspelled consistently. I'm honestly curious how it could be so pervasive, and why and how that started. |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3120
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 02-25-2017 08:17 AM
I assume you mean that people often put a "t" in the name ("Krantz"). As Gene Kranz points out in "Failure is Not an Option," his grandfather was a German immigrant. In German, that "z" in the name is pronounced like "tz" rather than the softer "zzz" sound of buzzing. Therefore, the name sounds like "Krantz" but is actually "Kranz." Pretend there is a "t" in it, but don't write it! |
ColinBurgess
Member Posts: 2031
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 02-25-2017 06:46 PM
I think Jack Schmitt is an even more common victim of misspelling, with a "d" often taking the place of the first "t". And then there's poor old Elliot See, who has long had an extra "t" attached to his first name — even in NASA literature. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 02-26-2017 01:58 AM
Anyone who has delved into their family history will tell you that variations in the spelling of names is quite common and, to slightly disagree with my friend Colin, hardly count as a mispelling.Just as in the case of the extra 't' in Elliot, in my family there is disagreement, even in modern official records, as to whether Frederic should finish with a 'k' or not. Going further back, one census record has my paternal great grandmother's name as Rosina, the next census records it as Rosie. This said, I am happy to concede that in the quoted cases the reason for the spelling variations are most likely to be down to an error on the part of the author. |
Wehaveliftoff
Member Posts: 2343
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 02-26-2017 03:13 AM
In German, the Z is enunciated like TS, the tz would be repetitous. |
Jurg Bolli
Member Posts: 977
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 02-26-2017 08:11 PM
In German Katze is cat, pronounced as if it did not have a T, but it does. So the TZ combination occurs quite frequently, and there are of course different spellings of names that sound the same. |
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