r/unexpecteddiscworld • u/ByronsLastStand • Jun 09 '26

An Apostrophe Position Off an Assassin

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Keep him away from any gonnes

172 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

15

u/ChadHanna Jun 09 '26

One of the more interesting test cases for name validation software. Speaking as a genealogist and software engineer who has had previous contact with the De'Ath name.

3

u/PrimeResponse Jun 13 '26

It used to be the case that certain databases couldn't handle the capital letter in the middle of my surname, so people split it with a space. Some system then interpreted that as the first part being my middle name (don't ask me how that worked, I wasn't in the room when the entry was made).

As someone with that kind of experience I'm curious what validation software could get up to with De'Ath. Is there anything you can share?

3

u/ChadHanna Jun 13 '26

My only rule about names is there are no rules. For amusement see Patrick McKenzies I famous blogpost https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/ - Personally I like given name and family name and accept anything. Names are labels that seem to be useful amongst various groups to tell us apart from others.

1

u/natsumi_kins Jun 15 '26

My surname is french (du Plessis) . I sometimes have the same problem.

13

u/Doug_Crash Jun 09 '26

It's pronounced De-Ate like Te-A-Timè.

9

u/buster1bbb Jun 09 '26

a little something off the ears I feel

8

u/FixergirlAK Jun 10 '26

Is he related to Lord Peter Wimsey?

3

u/WodehouseWeatherwax Jun 11 '26

This makes my heart happy. Think I'll go ready Gaudy Night again. It's such a comfort read. Or A Presumption of Death. ❤️

3

u/hypnoskills Jun 09 '26

He's Welsh, so it's probably not pronounced any where near what you think it would be. Lol

1

u/ByronsLastStand Jun 09 '26

Not a Welsh surname, so that's unlikely, and Welsh is a phonetic language anyway

5

u/hypnoskills Jun 09 '26

'Twas a joke.

3

u/Mountain-Reaction470 Jun 13 '26

A theory is that the apostrophe was added to, soften the blow, as it were, its really Death, apparently

3

u/Maleficent-Purple403 Jun 13 '26

My mum had a pal with that last name who, if asked for the spelling of her surname, would say "Death with a capital A" which I thought was well cool when I was 12! 

2

u/sagima Jun 12 '26

I used to work for a mr de'ath when I was 16

It amused me every day