Language notes from the slopes of E-15.

[Mark Mandel]

That name sounds familiar, and not from professional exposure. I think my
daughter had a class with him.

Come to think of it, it's a double dactyl. Uh-oh....

m a m

On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 7:26 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> It's also a good bet that any Icelander that you encounter will have
> heard of any other Icelander of any note, e.g. "famous in the field."
> At M.I.T in the '70's, I had an Icelandic classmate who is now
> somewhat known in the field. In the '80's, I encountered a random
> Harvard undergraduate from Iceland. When I started to tell him about
> my former classmate, he interrupted, saying, "Of course! You're
> referring to Prof. [Hoskuldur] Thrainsson!" He went on to explain that
> Iceland is such a small country, without a lot happening, that, in
> effect, the entire population has already been (in)famous, locally,
> for at least fifteen minutes. It was very likely that, if I met
> another Icelander and mentioned my interlocutor's name, that Icelander
> probably would be at least familiar with it - Local Boy Makes Good!
> Admitted To Harvard! - and, perhaps, might even be from the same
> 'hood.
>

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