I'm fascinated lately with words that are spelled differently, but pronounced the same. You know, words like top and taupe.
These are homophones, a class of homonyms. Words like break and brake (same letters, completely different meaning) .Then there's threw and through and throw and throe. Don't get me started on the trifecta of their, there, and they're. So what if contractions aren't words?
There's a whole sub-genre of social media personas based on those triplets of grammatical gyration. They're going to vent their rage right there if you don't get it right. Remember that.
Even names get in on the action. There's Stewart and Stuart which is probably all the same family just on different sides of Roanoke. I'm always befuddled by Sawyer and Salyer because they probably aren't really pronounced alike but who can tell?
Two names I'm most intrigued by lately are spelled differently, but pronounced exactly alike. One is an old German family name with Americanized pronunciation, the other the ubiquitous nickname of a long revered American brand.
One is spelled Coke. The other is spelled Koch. They're both pronounced like that stuff they turn coal into to generate enough heat to make steel.
As you all know, Coke is a soft drink made with sugar water and a blend of mystical tropical ingredients that may or may not have once included cocaine which was obvious since it's actual name started with Coca.
As you may not know, Koch Industries might be the largest privately held conglomerate in the United States, depending on when the next election is coming up for auction. You're probably using one of their paper towels to clean up the dogs mess.
Coke distributes a lot of beverages that may or may not be good for you. Obesity, heart disease, and diabetes are all possible side effects of too much soft drink consumption. But they have wonderful commercials that make me feel good about myself. One every now and then probably isn't going to kill ya.
While some would say Coke could clean pipes, Koch makes the pipes they're talking about and the real stuff to clean them. Besides that, they've got a few thousand acres of tar sands in Canada full of stuff they'd love to pump through the pipes they make and lay.
There's a huge difference between these two multi-national, but decidedly American corporations. One wants to teach the world to sing, the other wants to make you sing from their playbook. Coke is 455th in yearly corporate political contributions, Koch is 45th.
Coke stopped all political donations after the capital insurrection. Koch doubled down in support of the Big Lie.
Coke pulled their business from a terrorist nation who invaded a sovereign democracy. Koch lied about the extent of business interests there and maintained operations.
Eight of the direct recipients of Koch patronage sided with Russia when 424 of their Congressional peers sided with Ukraine and democracy in bringing sanctions against Russia. One of those, Thomas Massie, represents northern Kentucky. Imagine a democratically elected representatives of the people supporting a dictator over democracy.
That's funny. Those folks remind me of another set of homophones. Are they traders or traitors?