Re: Idoru

Andreas Johansson writes:
 > William Annis wrote:
 > > >From:         Andreas Johansson <and_yo@...>
 > >
 > > > If "idoru" isn't some version of "idol" (which my brain sorts as /ido:l/
 > > > however you anglophones may mangle it), then what does it mean?
 > >
 > >         Well, Gibson knows nothing about computers, but doesn't let
 > >that stop him from writing about them.  Perhaps he takes the same
 > >approach to Japanese, and Idoru is his spelling of 'aidoru.'
 >
 > That'd mean he knows enough to know what an "aidoru" is, but not how to
 > spell it. Sounds slightly unlikely to me.
 >
 >                                              Andreas
 >
 > _________________________________________________________________
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It's not impossible.  If he read about aidoru in English source
materials, the term would probably have been given as "idol" or "idol
singer", and it could be that he japanised the term incorrectly.  (I
do know that he mispronounced 'haniwa' on the Neuromancer audio book).

I don't know if you've read the book or not, but the term idoru refers
essentially to artificial, computer generated aidoru (although the
term aidoru is not used in the text).  There has been at least one
such in reality (http://www.wdirewolff.com/jkyoko.htm), which no doubt
inspired Gibson.  Possibly idoru is a contraction of e-aidoru (the
prefix e-, for electronic, being popular in '90s English product
names, although I'm not aware of its use in Japanese).