Bíró
A couple of days back I heard my boss say something about a biro (by-roh). Unsure of what she was referring to, I looked it up - and found google search results showing some ball-point pens from a company called bic, available readily on Amazon. I dismissed my search soon thereafter, a bit let down by it being just a ball-point pen and not something fancier that I had hoped it would be!
As it turns out, I had dismissed the biro too soon. Today, Google commemorated Ladislao José Biro's 117th birthday through a doodle. He is the inventor of the biro or the ball-point pen as it was hitherto known to me. Upon clicking the doodle to find out more about him, I came across the name László József Bíró - which I immediately recognised as a Hungarian name. José, on the other hand, was a very Spanish name. Intrigued by this duality in names, I continued reading the articles that came up in the search results.
László József Bíró was indeed a Jewish Hungarian who had had to flee from Hungary to Buenos Aires to escape the Nazi occupation. It was in 1938, right before the World War II began, that he invented the biro. In fact, the biro came to be used during the World War II as well, since it could be used at high altitudes, unlike the traditional fountain pens. According to the article published in The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/09/28/who-was-ladislao-jose-biro-how-did-he-invent-the-ballpoint-pen-a/), "The pen is still called a biro in countries including the UK, Ireland, Australia and Italy, but in the US it is known as a ballpoint pen." That solves the mystery of why my English boss referred to it as a biro, while I call it a ballpoint pen! (It is strange how some things in India have a very British influence while some other things have a very clear American influence - but more on that some other time.)
I feel a strange sense of pride (almost akin to the national pride I feel for India), whenever I come across feats of Hungarians! Having faithfully learnt one of the toughest languages spoken by a very small minority, I feel like I have earned the right to bask in some Hungarian glory!
Although, once I was made aware about the Hungarian connect of the humble yet integral biro, the purist in me could not help but cringe a bit at the English calling it a 'by-roh' when it should rightly be called the 'bee-ro'! Even the Español pronunciation should be 'bee-ro'.
(On an unrelated note, the Hungarian - Spanish connect of Mr. Bíró is in perfect sync with my latest attempt at learning Español as my 2nd foreign language, Hungarian being the first! I take it as a sign!!)
As it turns out, I had dismissed the biro too soon. Today, Google commemorated Ladislao José Biro's 117th birthday through a doodle. He is the inventor of the biro or the ball-point pen as it was hitherto known to me. Upon clicking the doodle to find out more about him, I came across the name László József Bíró - which I immediately recognised as a Hungarian name. José, on the other hand, was a very Spanish name. Intrigued by this duality in names, I continued reading the articles that came up in the search results.
László József Bíró was indeed a Jewish Hungarian who had had to flee from Hungary to Buenos Aires to escape the Nazi occupation. It was in 1938, right before the World War II began, that he invented the biro. In fact, the biro came to be used during the World War II as well, since it could be used at high altitudes, unlike the traditional fountain pens. According to the article published in The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/09/28/who-was-ladislao-jose-biro-how-did-he-invent-the-ballpoint-pen-a/), "The pen is still called a biro in countries including the UK, Ireland, Australia and Italy, but in the US it is known as a ballpoint pen." That solves the mystery of why my English boss referred to it as a biro, while I call it a ballpoint pen! (It is strange how some things in India have a very British influence while some other things have a very clear American influence - but more on that some other time.)
I feel a strange sense of pride (almost akin to the national pride I feel for India), whenever I come across feats of Hungarians! Having faithfully learnt one of the toughest languages spoken by a very small minority, I feel like I have earned the right to bask in some Hungarian glory!
Although, once I was made aware about the Hungarian connect of the humble yet integral biro, the purist in me could not help but cringe a bit at the English calling it a 'by-roh' when it should rightly be called the 'bee-ro'! Even the Español pronunciation should be 'bee-ro'.
(On an unrelated note, the Hungarian - Spanish connect of Mr. Bíró is in perfect sync with my latest attempt at learning Español as my 2nd foreign language, Hungarian being the first! I take it as a sign!!)
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