# Al and Gore are Separate Words...Or Can You Not Spell?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [November 14, 2000, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206 "2000-11-14T21:32:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/1 "2000-11-14T21:32:20Z")
In another thread, **MGibson** said:
> [@](#):
>
> I’m hijacking the thread. Why the heck can’t people type Al Gore instead of Algore? I see Algore written a lot and I was just wondering if it meant anything. I can’t stand Gore but this Algore thing is really bugging the hell out of me.
>
> Marc
Stop the presses! Marc and I agree on something!
Not only is it annoying, it’s puerile and childish. It reminds me of the basketball rivalry between Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill–most fans of both schools view their rivals with grudging respect, and address them accordingly. Some people, however, insist on calling the other side “Dook” or “Chapel Hell,” or, alternatively, the “Tarholes” and “Blow Devils.” Now, they’re free to call the schools whatever they want, of course, but such namecalling is a pretty good measure of someone maturity, if you ask me, and all else being equal, I’ll treat a Carolina fan who says “Duke” with substantially more respect than one who gets his kicks from “Dook.” Same thing with “algore.”
To anticipate criticism, by the way, I will admit that I don’t view “Dubya” in quite the same light–to me, “Shrub” is more the “algore” analogue, and I find its use someone silly. That being said, if someone genuinely finds “Dubya” sufficiently annoying that it colors their opinion of those who use it, I won’t use it any more. Calling Bush “The Player-King” is more creative, anyway. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/2 "2000-11-14T21:34:34Z")
“I find its use _somewhat_ silly.”
Hate to overlook a stupid error like that.
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### Author:  [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/3 "2000-11-14T21:37:41Z")
I think Limbaugh, if he didn’t start it, popularized it. He sells bumper stickers that read “Algore IS a risky scheme!”
I don’t really get why people make that into one word.
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### Author:  [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/4 "2000-11-14T21:42:30Z")
**Jello** has it right. **Revtim** already asked [[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=40903](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=40903)]this question.
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### Author:  [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/5 "2000-11-14T21:45:36Z")
[This](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=40903) should work – sorry!
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/6 "2000-11-14T21:51:07Z")
A------MEN!!!
I’m having a really tough time with the election threads, they are getting soooooo childish and nasty, the “algore” and “shrub” stuff is just the surface.
thank you…(and I’ll just leave it at that)
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/7 "2000-11-14T22:15:52Z")
I promise not to use “Dubya” or “Shrub.”
You can’t make me stop using “Tarholes,” though. 😉
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### Author:  [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/8 "2000-11-14T22:19:20Z")
Absolutely. Whilst I daresay it’s not technically a violation of the rules of English spelling and grammar, it definitely suggests that the writer is ignorant of them, and that his opinion counts for little or nothing.
Just call the man al-Ghul. 😛
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/9 "2000-11-14T22:39:19Z")
Many of those who use “Algore” read Safire or Kilpatrick, conservative pundits and language purists.
So the appropriate response to the usage should be a bumper sticker, T-shirt emblem, etc:
> [@](#):
>
> Algore is alright!
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### Author:  [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/10 "2000-11-14T22:44:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by spoke- \*
> I promise not to use “Dubya” or “Shrub.”
>
> You can’t make me stop using “Tarholes,” though. 😉
**spoke-** …are you a Dukie?? If not, I’d still like to compliment you on your impeccable taste. It may not be couth to call 'em “Tarholes,” but any Doper who dislikes the powder-blue persuasion is okay by me. 🙂
Gadarene, T’95 (after a fashion)
(And **Jello** , maybe I’m just being a dimwitted liberal, but I don’t really see the play on words in Rush’s li’l nugget of bumper sticker wisdom there. Whuh?)
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### Author:  [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/11 "2000-11-14T22:48:40Z")
Gore called Bush’s tax plan a “risky scheme.” Limbaugh and the Dittoheads (which, by the way, would make a great name for a rock band) countered with an amazing bit of wit that is “Algore is a Risky Scheme.”
I don’t get it either.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/12 "2000-11-14T22:50:08Z")
Yes, I am a Dukie.('84)
And I only use “Tarholes” playfully, and never with malice, when ribbing my misguided Carolina-alum friends. 😉
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### Author:  [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/13 "2000-11-14T23:08:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by spoke- \*
> Yes, I am a Dukie.('84)
>
> And I only use “Tarholes” playfully, and never with malice, when ribbing my misguided Carolina-alum friends. 😉
Great to see another Blue Devil 'round these parts. We’re having a fascinating, in-depth discussion of the Florida situation over at [DBR](http://www.dukebasketballreport.com); you should drop on by.
Wow…'84. So you were around for Uncle Terry, huh? I forget; did the famed “avuncular letter” happen before or after your time there?
[back on-topic, a bit]
A couple years ago, the Duke women played Carolina over in Carmichael. The crowd was holding up typically classy signs welcoming the visitors, the most common of which were “Dook Sucks” and “Beat Dook.” Of course, the Devils thrashed the Heels…like ya do. Anyway, after the game, Michele Van Gorp was asked what she thought of Carmichael’s (comparatively) raucous atmosphere.\* Straight-faced, she said something to the effect of, “Oh, it didn’t bother us much. I mean, they couldn’t even spell Duke right!” Heh. 🙂
One more tangential anecdote: On DBR’s [bulletin board](http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/dbrboard/bin/blist.cgi), the programmer, James Armstrong, as fixed it so that any spelling of “Dook” in a submitted post is, um, corrected by the time it hits the boards. _evil grin_
But back to Algore. No one’s gonna defend it? Good. Then I trust we won’t be seeing it again. 🙂
[sub]\*raucous compared to the Dean Dome, that is, or other women’s ACC arenas. Not Cameron; perish the thought.[/sub]
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/14 "2000-11-14T23:16:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Wow…'84. So you were around for Uncle Terry, huh? I forget; did the famed “avuncular letter” happen before or after your time there?
I think I still have my copy somewhere.
And no, I did not throw any condoms onto the court. 😉
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### Author:  [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/15 "2000-11-14T23:26:41Z")
It’s answered in the thread by **Revtim** that was linked to, but to answer **MGibson’s** question here: “Algore” makes more sense, I suppose, if you say it out loud all as one word. Depending on how you pronounce it, “Algore” may sound quite a bit like “Igor”. And that’s the joke (such as it is), that Al Gore (Algore) is the hunch-backed lackey to Clinton’s mad scientist.
Having said that, in any non-joking thread I think both the canidates should simply be referred to by their last names or full names. Well, title and name would be acceptable as well, but I doubt many people are going to bother with that (I know I rarely do). Using disparaging nicknames in an attempt to diminish a person due to their opposing views has no place in serious debate.
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/16 "2000-11-14T23:36:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Amok \*
> \*\*Using disparaging nicknames in an attempt to diminish a person due to their opposing views has no place in serious debate. \*\*
Sadly, many engaging in those debates do not understand that. I just read a quote from one in the “Gore settlement Proposal” referring to the other side as “sniveling”.
Pathetic. When one cannot argue on position or philosophy, apparently name calling is acceptable.
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### Author:  [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2000, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/17 "2000-11-14T23:42:53Z")
Boyjustbecauseaguy’sspacebarisbrokendoesn’tmeaneveryonehastohaveacow!Heck,IalmostvotedforAlGore.Noreally!
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2000, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/18 "2000-11-15T00:07:02Z")
Algore=Igor=hunchback hack?
It’s still kind of a reach.
FWIW, my favorite professor’s first name is Igor-he’s from Russia.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2000, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/19 "2000-11-15T00:23:44Z")
They used to say “Al” and “Gol” were separate words too.
And NOW look what we’re calling Beta Persei!!
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### Author:  [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2000, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-and-gore-are-separate-words-or-can-you-not-spell/41206/20 "2000-11-15T02:05:39Z")
[Moderator Hat: ON]
In looking at this thread, first I thought it was a Pit thread (not so much for language or attacks, but because it was sort of a rant), then I thought it was MPSIMS, and somewhere along the line it was linked into a GQ; now I just dunno. It’s three – three – three threads in one! But what it’s **not** is a Great Debate.
So rather than moving it to an area where it will still be out of place, I’m locking it.
* * *
David B, SDMB Great Debates Moderator
[Moderator Hat: OFF]