These new mini-forewords are rather a trifle, but I found it interesting to see how a foreign publisher explained the Oz series to new readers.
I also forgot to thank Freddy Fogarty in last week's WEW post for supplying the scans of the Hutchinson Oz books and the library binding of the Rand McNally Road to Oz. The copy of the Hutchinson Tin Woodman (at right) was a present from Freddy, too. He had recently upgraded his copy and I got this very nice hand-me-down. And that was how I discovered these unusual little forewords. Here's the one from Tin Woodman. Enjoy!
4 comments:
Why do so many people spell Nimmie Amee's name? Her husband doesn't fare that much better, either.
@Nathan - I hadn't caught that Nimmee Amee's name was misspelled but i think I can supply a source for the error. The last two paragraphs of this little forward are pulled from the synopsis of TIN WOODMAN from WHO'S WHO IN OZ.
WHO'S WHO was written by Jack Snow, and it is HIS misspelling that has crept in to Oz history. He spelled Amee as "Aimee" in both the synopsis and her biographical blurb.
I have encountered people who pronounce her name to sound like "Nimmy Amy" with a hardy A sound whic is what you'd get if you toss an inappropriate "i" into her name. I always pronounced her second name with a soft "a" and kind of run all into one word something like Nimmy-uh-me.
I have also heard it pronounced like Nimmy Ammy half-rhyming with Miami. I like my pronunciation better than the Miami version - but Nimmy AMY is just wrong, IMHO - though clearly Jack Snow thought "Amee" sounded like Amy or he wouldn't have added the extraneous "i".
I've never been entirely clear on how to pronounce "Nimmie Amee." (Well, okay, I'm pretty clear on the "Nimmie" part.) Or "Chopfyt," for that matter; I figure "chop-fight" would make the most sense, but that's not really how it's spelled. Probably why I've seen some people insist on adding an E to the end of his name.
I don't see much wiggly room on how to pronounce Chopfyt's name. He's half Nick Chopper and half Captain Fighter - so Chop Fight seems like the only logical option IMHO.
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