A story from history, about history.
Long ago, when I was doing my GCSEs, I was in the classroom waiting for the lesson to start. On the desk at the front was a pile of scruts' (that is, first years') exercise books.

Bored, I had a quick look. They'd been doing Danegeld and pre-Conquest England stuff.

There's a couple of ways in which King Knut's name can be spelled. This wasn't one of them.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 13 Jun 2008, 10:52, 5 replies)

You are so bad
I can't believe you did that and you STILL got cake at Maggie's!

*frowns*
(happylittletulip helpless and delicious, Fri 13 Jun 2008, 10:55, closed)

I did nothing - only look at someone else's error.
Besides: this was in B28 - the Domain of Janet. She never offered us cake.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 13 Jun 2008, 10:56, closed)

Ah
I read too much into your post and assumed, incorrectly, that you sneakily changed the poor scrut's spelling!

*sorries*
(happylittletulip helpless and delicious, Fri 13 Jun 2008, 11:02, closed)

Is King Knut
the same bloke as King Canute? The one who showed that being a king was no match for nature when it came to tides.

I heard that as 'kinky newt' the first time. Just like I heard Henrik Ibsen as Henry Gibson.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 13 Jun 2008, 11:06, closed)

Indeed.
Knut was Danish (England was effectively a Danish dependency at the time) and his name wouldn't have presented any problems in Old English. "Canute" is the spelling that gradually took over as Old English evolved into the more Norman-influenced Middle English.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 13 Jun 2008, 11:10, closed)