14 October 2004
For quite some time now -- at least half a year, and probably approaching a full year -- I have been of the opinion that the "Euro" currency needs a better name. A shorter name. A nickname. And I know just what it should be.
You see, nobody can quite seem to agree how to pronounce the name "Euro." The Germans want to pronounce it "Oi-ro". The French want to say "uh-ro". English-speakers want to pronounce it "Yur-ro". I don't know how the Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, Greeks [whose pronunciation should probably dictate correctness, given that the name "Europe" comes from Greek -- or so I'm told], or any of the other languages pronounce it. But it becomes clear that different languages do different things with the first syllable. Ah! But that second syllable is always pretty much the same, "Ro" with a long "o". So, hey, why not save a syllable and avoid the varied pronunciations and call it the 'Ro, for short? After all, the dollar gets shortened to the monosyllabic "buck". So, why can't we do the same for the European counterpart?
Well, call me slow; call me blind; call me silly. Whatever. But it wasn't until just this past weekend that the grand appropriateness of the name "Ro" finally hit me. Think about it: we have the "dollar" which long ago acquired the nickname "buck". Now we have the "Euro" which (I propose) should have the nickname "Ro". But see how the two are virtually made for each other?? Get it? "Buck" and "Ro". Kinda like "buck" and "roe" -- as in, a male deer and a female deer.
Whoa! Cosmic!
So, just remember that you heard it here first! A few years from now, as you watch the evening news and you hear Peter Jennings or Dan Rather or Bob Costas or Bawbwa Wawa or David Letterman or Julia Roberts or Keanu Reeves or Al Gore or whoever it is doing the evening news -- and you hear them talk about the European economy and the current value of the "Ro" versus the buck -- you can say to yourself, "That's the brainchild of my good friend, Curt. I read it on his website years ago!"
Pretty cool, huh.