The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 27, July 2, 2006, Article 50

JOHN KRALJEVICH, CROATIAN-AMERICAN NUMISMATIST

John Kraljevich writes: "As a proud Croatian-American, I was
pleased to see the piece on the new book on the coins of the
modern republic of Croatia. However, I was dismayed to see the
way my American computer rendered the name of the author:
Viščević,

This reminds me of a fake news story once found in The Onion,
a nationally distributed humor newspaper, noting in the mid-1990s
that the UN had authorized "life-giving airlifts of vowels" into
several Croatian towns, such as Vrsar, Rovinj, Krzanici, and Brna.

As for my family, we actually added a consonant when my grandfather
came through Ellis Island -- the h on the end of my last name helps
Americans render the c with an accent as a correct "ch" sound. The
j in the middle of my name is pronounced with a Y sound, so think
of the inferiority complex residents of the town of Krapje must
have when they learn English. It's probably a more difficult process
than most of us had trying to learn French or Latin in high school.

Just to make this vaguely numismatic, Frank Draskovic and I once
discussed forming an organization for Croatian-American collectors.
We decided to have a drink and call it a quorum instead."

[The vowel airlift was classic Onion humor, and had me ROTFLOL the
first time I read it.  I wish I could locate an online copy, but I
came up blank at www.theonion.com.  In the story the greatest vowel
donors were the citizens of the great state of Hawaii, who have more
vowels in their state motto than a warehouse full of Scrabble tiles.
Were the story true, it would have been the biggest vowel movement
in history. -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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