tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post2375469457866695227..comments2024-03-28T14:05:25.134-07:00Comments on Sacnoth's Scriptorium: A Kindling We Will GoJohn D. Rateliffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12324926298336489295noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-47123455579815296562009-05-04T20:48:00.000-07:002009-05-04T20:48:00.000-07:00No, Tolkien was born in Southern Africa, not "Sout...No, Tolkien was born in Southern Africa, not "South Africa".<br /><br />"South Africa" refers specifically to the country. Southern Africa refers to the region.<br /><br />"South Africa" is not properly applied to the region (unlike "North Africa", "West Africa", and "East Africa", all of which are acceptable substitutes for Northern, Western, and Eastern Africa, respectively) for precisely the reason that it would create confusion as to which the writer meant.<br /><br /><br />The accurate way to say it is that Tolkien was "born in what is now South Africa", but that misses the significance that JRRT was born in a small non-English-speaking country outside the British Empire which no longer existed by the time he was ten years old.<br /><br />As you point out, though, the best remedy for inaccuracy is detail.<br /><br />--JDRJohn D. Rateliffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12324926298336489295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-57375544163869603122009-05-02T01:11:00.000-07:002009-05-02T01:11:00.000-07:00Tolkien was born in South Africa. What he wasn't ...Tolkien <I>was</I> born in South Africa. What he wasn't born in, because it didn't exist yet, was the <I>Union of</I> South Africa.<br /><br />However, "Orange Free State" is both relevant and more specific, assuming that readers know what it is. The best thing to say might be, "The Orange Free State, later one of the constituent states of what is now the Republic of South Africa."David Bratmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08090662884600828582noreply@blogger.com