# I met a person today whose first name is Virus. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 20, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795 "2012-06-20T22:38:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/161 "2012-07-25T22:23:21Z")
There was a boy in one of my classes in high school named Stevephen. Pronounced “Steven,” but most of us accidentally called him “Steve-uh-ven” at least once. “Should we spell it with a V or a PH?” “I don’t know, let’s just go with both.” ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/162 "2012-07-25T22:31:45Z")
> [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](#): > > The second pronunciation didn’t occur to me. I’m English. Goes to show me. Around here (USA, specifially Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas), Vie’-ruhl is how we pronounce the word when associated with viruses, like _viral pneumonia_. So Vih-rahl’ is unusual. YMMV, handle with care. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795/163 "2012-07-27T20:26:13Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The family name “Dikshit” (also spelled “Dixit” or “Dikkhit”) is also one I’m familiar with. When I was in the high school choir we performed a rendition of _Dixit_ from Mozart’s Vesperes Solemnes De Confessores. Since some of my peers weren’t ‘getting it’, the choir master pulled out a Bible and gave us a translation of what we were singing. If I recall correctly (but note that it was the only six months I learned or spoke any Latin at all) it was… Dixit! Domineus. Domino meio Sede, Sede A Dextris Meis …(etcetera etcetera). …and the translation we were given was… Dixit! (A name) This is God. You (will be) a King of mine. Sit, sit. Here on my right hand side. [In other words, “Hey, Dixit, God makes you his right-hand man.”] So, with that interpretation, I can easily imagine someone with a slight exposure (like mine) to classical music and either Handel’s or Mozart’s Vespere Solemnes De Confessores and the \*Dixit \*passage. * * * I learned that stuff in the early 1980’s, well before The Internet was full of all sorts of easily accessible translations of all sorts of stuff. From a bit more research into the matter, I see that there are more accurate interpretations (though I’m still ignorant of the overall context). A page dealing with Handel’s version of Dixit suggests… It was said[COLOR=Black]\* By God To my lord “Sit, sit, here on my right side.”[/COLOR] …etcetera, etcetera… [In other words, someone (a wife? a serf?) is saying "I overheard when God said to my lord (husband? Man of the manor?) come and be His right-hand man, etcetera, etcetera.] \*Which makes more sense if dixit is the past-participle of the Latin _speak_ or _say_ – di being included in the modern spanish “diga” = say or speak and the modern English “dictate” = to speak to an audience (like someone who is taking notes or obeying orders). –G! Uchitali Russki yzik Estudié Español Nihongo o’ benkyoshimashta NOW IT’S ALL CONFUSING [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-met-a-person-today-whose-first-name-is-virus/625795.md?page=8)