Aladdin Central Messageboard

Calluna · Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 7:19 pm Post subject: Spellings....

Inspired by this post at fanficrants...

Am I the only one who flips out when people misspell the characters' names? Especially those who claim to be fans?

Now, I know that some of the characters' names have different "official" spellings in other countries. Aladin and Jasmin in Spanish, Jago in French, I've even seen Aladyn in Polish. Shocked

Those do not bother me.

Not so with those who spell it "Alladin". Now, I remember being 11 and having problems with this. "I know there's a double letter in there somewhere," I would say, "but which one?" But, see, kids, that's why I picked up my VHS box and checked.

Iago. Oh dear lord. So many creative misspellings, but the one that just won't die is the one where people confuse the capital "I" with a lowercase "L". Now, Iago is the Italian version of the names Jacob and James. It's also the name of a Shakespearean villain, who was a traitorous yes-man. A parrot in the French comic Tintin also went by this name. Lago, on the other hand, is the Spanish word for lake. Which one sounds more likely to be the one our parrot is named for?

Mozenrath. THERE IS NO "W" IN IT. ANYWHERE. I see so many people doing this who should know better. Sure, it spells it that way in the captions of at least one episode, but we have an official spelling, in the title of "The Wind Jackals of Mozenrath". Never trust the captions. In "Shadow of a Doubt" they translated the line "evil edifice" as "evil Oedipus". Laughing

Abu. Not Aboo, and definitely not Apu. Spell it that way and I'm revoking your Simpsons privileges. Although the mental image of Abu running the Kwik-E-Mart is amusing.

Xerxes doesn't have an official spelling in the series, but he is named after a historical figure, so it's likely it's spelled the way we spell that figure's name in English. I want to meet these people's history teachers so I can smack them upside the head.

Jafar has only one "F" in it. Rajah has an "H" at the end. But what chance do I have when even Ted and Terry can't get it right?

Yes, I do feel better for getting that out. Thanks for asking. Wink

xfkirsten · Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 8:43 pm Post subject:

Thank you!!!!! Laughing

If I am reading fanfic, that is a huge turn-off for me. Mangling the characters names is so distracting when I try to read a story. It might be a great storyline, but I'll stop reading if the spelling gets out-of-hand. Then again, the stories with this problem also tend to have horrible spelling of ANY word (spell check, anyone? Rolling Eyes

) and horrible grammar.

Beta readers are your friend! Laughing

Abu running the Kwik-E-Mart, eh? Hmmm... I can see him chowing down on every snack in the store... come to think of it, he and Homer would get along quite well...
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AladdinsGenie · Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2004 9:25 pm Post subject:

I know, I can't tell you how many times I have gone to ebay and see that someone has the "Alladin" MOVIE on sale. You'd think by taking the picture of the box, you'd be able to spell it right.

Poor Iago gets it the worse. Yago, Eago, Lago, etc. It's horrible.

Genie gets a few too. I know of Jinni and Jin, but I believe Gin is a drink and Jeannie is Barbara Eden's character on I Dream of Jeannie.

Merkal · Sultan Joined: 17 Jul 2004 Posts: 466 Location: NL

If I encounter Aladdin mis-spellings on ebay I skip that auction al together. If they can't spell it not worth looking at it. Let alone buy it.

Salukfan · Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 6:23 am Post subject:

I just love when people are auctioning off the original VHS on Ebay, and still manage to spell Aladdin's name wrong. Hello, it's the name of the movie! Morons...

Guest · Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:12 pm Post subject:

I'm writing a fanfic about Eden and her master. I've seen her name as "Dondi" or "Dhandi" which is the one I'm using. Any thoughts about it?

Marisa · Sultan Joined: 17 Jul 2004 Posts: 281

I spell it Dhandi. Seems more Arabian to me; although there's never been an official spelling.

One more thing: For years, I have been spelling Rasoul with an S. But officially, his name has a Z in it -- Razoul. It's named after a member of the film's staff.
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Calluna · Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 9:18 pm Post subject:

Rasoul Azadani has an "S" in his name. But it's Razoul on all the merchandise. Doesn't add up. Razz

I spell it Dondi myself. If there's no official spelling, I don't care what you do. Wink

Salukfan · Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 9:25 pm Post subject:

I hate spelling Rasoul with a z- it just doesn't look right to me. I'm sticking with the Rasoul Azadani spelling. After all, the new merchandise does spell Rajah as "Raja" Wink

Personally, I like Dhandi. Looks good to me!

And how the heck to you spell Fazaal's name, anyway? It is Fasal? Fazaal? Fazal?
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Calluna · Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 10:14 pm Post subject:

It's Fazal in the comics. I've changed the spelling more times than I can count... Mad

~*AmberEyes*~ · Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 12:13 pm Post subject:

ArbItus instead of ArbUtus grrrr lol

Jafaria · Vizier's Handmaiden Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 419

I tend to be annoyed when I see Jafar's name spelled with an extra F because then I just imagine the one from The Thief of Baghdad being there instead.

Admittedly, that character IS one of the inspirations for Jafar, but he's different enough that his being there would change the story a lot. He turns people into dogs and can take over a kingdom in a day with no genie lamps.

JafarsRomancer · Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 12:25 pm Post subject:

The only one that really ticks me off is when people say Lago for Iago. I dunno why, I just want to change it or something. It really irritates me.
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