Memes: A Case of Calley-ope Syndrome
How do you say it???
Maybe you, like the latest guest on La Vida Más Chévere de Childfree Latinas, have encountered a word that isn’t pronounced how it’s spelled. Maybe you also have an awkward name no one can spell (like Paulette) or say (like poor Calliope up there).
English is fun that way! 🙄
On that episode, featuring my baby brother Erik Fontanez, you heard there’s an anecdote about our relationship that is only being made available to Substack subscribers…so here it is!
Among Erik’s many accomplishments is the fact that he is a prolific meme-maker. Seriously, he’s managed to profit from making memes—incredible!
But he wasn’t always able to say it, the word “meme.”
And because older siblings have lovingly tortured their younger brethren since time immemorial (im-meme-morial?), here’s my brother allowing me to poke a little bit of fun at him.
Like any gifted writer, Erik has come across a lot of words in only written form. Up until January 4, 20131, the word meme was one of them. That’s what calley-ope syndrome is:
Judith Wynn Halsted, in her book Some of My Best Friends Are Books, calls it "Calley-ope Syndrome" after another misleading word, "calliope."
From the article “Don't be misled or go awry with 'book words'“
Caliope, meaning beautiful-voiced, is pronounced kah-lie-op-ee. Although Merriam-Webster also lists it as ka-lee-ohp.🙄🙄🙄
So how did calley-ope syndrome show up for our guest?
Transcript
[00:00] Paulette: Can I tell that story?
[00:01] Erik: Absolutely!
[00:02] Paulette: I'm going to save this for the Substack subscribers. So the night I met Ryan, my husband, in 2013, I had pre-existing plans with Erik. We were going to go to a movie. So I'm at a bar for happy hour with a friend, killing time and we're sitting at the bar, and some dude walks in and is sitting talking with her. And she's like, hey, you should talk to him. She goes off and talks to someone else.
[00:24] And then this guy's just sitting there and there's an empty chair between us. And I was like, this is rude. I'll move over. I'll talk to him. And he ended up being really funny. So I was like, call me later. I gotta go, meeting up with my brother. And my brother at the time, as he mentioned, was a journalist online covering MMA.
[00:45] I get to his house and he's like, Hey, Paul, because he calls me Paul. Which he hasn't done yet today, but calls me Paul.
[00:49] Erik: That's right, Paul.
[00:50] Paulette: The reason I mention that he's a journalist online is because you would think that someone who is a journalist on the internet would be savvy to the internet slang, right?
[01:02] So it was probably one of those things where you read it, you didn't hear it being said, read it.
[01:07] Erik: Correct.
[01:07] Paulette: Okay. So he says to me, Hey Paul, have you heard of these things called me-mes? And I tell you, I nearly died laughing falling off the couch because I laughed so fucking hard. To this day, we call that my me-me laugh. So I ended up marrying that dude, teaching Erik how to say meme instead of me-me.
[01:30] As a good older sister does. And then we went to the movies. Not in that order. I married the guy a few years later.
[01:38] Erik: Yeah. And then after that I learned how to say meme correctly.
[01:42] Paulette: Meme, now he has a meme account. This is what he does.
[01:46] Erik: This is what I do. This is what I do. I make memes. I made one today!
How to Listen to Candid Childfree Chat
Listen to Candid Childfree Chat with Latino Dad & Batman Expert Erik Fontanez on your favorite podcasting app or on Apple:
🎧Listen on Spotify:
💻Or watch on YouTube:
About Erik Fontanez:
Erik Fontanez is the host of the Staches & Glasses Podcast, which covers sports, pop culture, and, as he puts it, whatever tickles the pickle. He discusses subjects such as the NBA, NFL, and a variety of other sports. The podcast also covers other entertainment aspects like movies, TV, and other popular topics.
Additionally, Erik heads and operates REVANIST Social, a digital marketing agency headquartered in Orange County, California. He also has a background in writing and editing, most notably in sports journalism. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, the Los Angeles Times, among others.
Find him online at:
Staches & Glasses Podcast (https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-pck9c-1586dd8)
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/formemenotyou/
Twitter/X https://twitter.com/formemenotyou/
To get the full show notes, and an episode transcript, go to PauletteErato.com/shownotes. This is episode 59.
Watch the video (or read the transcript) and you’ll understand how I can pinpoint that date so accurately 😍😍😍