Re: Idoru

Tim May wrote:
>
>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
>
>It's not impossible.
That's why I wrote "unlikely". Am I wrecking havoc with English semantics
again?

>  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).
Have read the book - that's why I'm asking! There are a number of
"e-aidoru"s to be found nowadays.

                                             Andreas


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