From: Andreas Ericsson <ae@op5.se>
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 18:52:54 GMT
Subject: Re: Offtopic [Re: Can't use gitk.]
Message-ID: <4378DD06.2000505@op5.se>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0511141005590.3263@g5.osdl.org>

Linus Torvalds wrote:
> It can be confusing, since in Italy (and, I think, southern Germany and 
> much of Eastern Europe), "Andrea" is a boy, and in fact, the name 
> originally comes from the Greek meaning "man".
> 

While we're working up the trivia section here we might as well be anal 
about it.

Andrea does indeed mean 'man' in the sense of 'human being' (think 
android). It was a form of flattery in ancient Greece, where being, with 
every breath, as human (or humane, which was originally the same) as 
possible was considered the best anyone could hope to be. Alas, that 
meaning has long since been somewhat watered.

Andreas stems from Andros and means "powerful protective guardian" in 
the sense of a totem. Chicks dig that. ;)

> In the rest of the world, Andrea seems to mostly female, but it probably 
> depends on where the cultural influences come from.
> 
> So leaving off the "s" can be very strange to the recipient.
> 

Personally I don't mind. I just thought it weird that so many are doing 
it. Thanks for the clarification though. It killed a full ten minutes of 
dull late-monday work of debugging other peoples perl-scripts.

Oh well. Back to it, I suppose.

-- 
Andreas Ericsson                   andreas.ericsson@op5.se
OP5 AB                             www.op5.se
Tel: +46 8-230225                  Fax: +46 8-230231