Like most Americans, I get the majority of my news from social media. But sometimes I seek balance, so I'll tune in to listen to Trevor Noah's newscast on those rare evenings when I can stay up past 11:00 pm.
And so it was this week that I learned that Turkey had filed a formal petition with the United Nations to change its official name. Because, as it turns out, the association with the bird and the connotation as a thing that's a failure rubbed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the wrong way. (I guess he's not a bowler.)
Because UN policy basically allows nations to choose their own names, Turkey is now officially known as Turkiyë to the community of nations. It's pronounced turkey-yay, which is both fun and a little bit hard to say.
You may recall that I've got a colleague who was born in Turkey. I wrote about her journey to becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen a few years ago.
I reached out to her upon hearing the news from her homeland, and her response surprised me. "I think the Turkish government should worry about inflation being over 100% right now. It's absolutely horrendous."
Turns out elections in Turkiyë are scheduled for next year, and Erdogan's not in great shape. Also turns out he's running the Trump playbook, pre-shaping a narrative that will allow him to claim election "fraud" and retain the power that his family has held (and the stream of illicit cash) for decades.
Turkey-yay, I guess, but Erdogan-nay.
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I wonder if the use of umlauts was inspired by Mötley Crüe?
tusky girls soccer tied 0-0 at halftime of the state semis.
I wonder how extensive the coverage of the Turkish insurrection will be stateside.
onto the state final. if anyone's in the fredericksburg area, i'll be there tomorrow around noon to watch the game.
Tuned in for 15 min to the liv golf event yesterday. meh, at best. 80000 viewers were watching at most given times yesterday. Today, 5000, and I have two people that work here in our office that would score better than a few of these chumps.
tusky girls will take on local rival broad run for the state title. the two teams have played three times thus far this season. tusky won, 2-1, at broad run in the regular season. broad run won, 1-0, in the district tournament at tusky, and then tusky returned the favor, 1-0, in the regional final at broad run. not much separates the two teams. it'll be a fun one.
How is a team that lost in the regional final still playing in the state tournament?
Oh, also, Steph Curry is beyond remarkable. I sat on my couch openly guffawing last night.
there are four regions in the state in our classification. the district regular season champion and the tournament winner both advance to the regional tournament. and both regional tournament finalists advance to the state tournament.
Interesting. We have four regions as well. Both the district tournament champ and runner up advance in Florida. Single elimination after that. The regional final is akin the Elite Eight down here. Thus my confusion.
the dream died hard today, friends. tusky picked a bad day to stop sniffing glue. and to play their worst game of the year. gave up three set piece goals in the first 20 minutes, dominated possession but only got one back. lost 3-1. bummer.
congrats on a hell of a season rob. great memories there fella!
I woke up today thinking Game 5 of the Finals was tonight. Just recently discovered it’s not until tomorrow. Dagger.
i get all of my news from gheorghe the blog.
who gots a post in the works, hhomies?
enjoying my annual bout with poison ivy. hello, old friend.
…which means it’s time for my annual endorsement of technu. I use it if I have any suspicion I’ve been exposed. Use as directed.
You guys need to watch Hustle the new Adam Sandler NBA movie. Great story, great cameos. Great hoops.
technu is awesome. i haven't gotten more than a dot of the stuff in many years, and it's my job to pull out all the poison ivy, Virginia creeper, poison sumac, and other shit my wife is allergic to in her gardens.
Before we move on, I think the record should reflect that Turkey has become Türkiye, not Turkiyë. The Daily Show clip out front shoulda told ya.
More importantly to me, I'm pro-umlaut and any moniker that sports one or more of them. My daughter Zoë has one in her name. Yes, she used to have to say in first grade, "My name is Zoë, Z-O-E-two-dots."
We should all throw an umlaut in our names. Or a tilde. Let's go, röb.
Sincerely,
Whitnë
Wait, your name is pronounced Whitn-E?
Timmë
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