14 DAY TRIAL // Tim Cook won’t strike anyone as the illiterate type, but it does seem that the man needs a back to basics class, as one of our commenters recently suggested.
In our reporting of the widely publicized WSJ interview with the Apple CEO, we relayed to our readers a comment made by Cook relating to the Android operating system.
He likened Google’s mobile OS to Europe, referring to the conventional nomenclature we use for the old continent. Cook wanted to draw a picture of how fragmented the Android operating system is – a lot of different flavors under the same name.
The comparison is more or less accurate, depending on where you come from. For example, a lot of Americans tend to think of this huge chunk of land as a big country that speaks a lot of different languages.
And while Europeans also think of the US as one big country, chances are this is slightly more accurate thinking. The US, by all means, is a country. Right, now here's what Tim Cook knows about Europe:
“Europe was a name that somebody came up with for Americans who didn’t understand that Europe was a lot of countries that weren’t like U.S. states. They were very different,” he tells the WSJ.
Oh for the love of God, Tim!
Ok, let's see just how badly Apple's CEO messed up here. There are quite a few theories about how the name “Europe” came about (Wikipedia).
Most accounts date back to ancient Greece. In Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess whom Zeus abducted and took to the island of Crete. One thing led to another and Europa became a name for the area of central-north Greece. By 500 BC, the Europa name had been extended to the lands to the north.
That’s one theory. Another says the word is derived from the Greek εὐρύς (eurus), meaning “wide, broad,” as in broad of aspect. And yet another theory suggests it is based on a Semitic word such as the Akkadian erebu meaning “to go down, set.”
None of them are 100% accurate, of course. And while the etymology of Europa is uncertain, it is known for a fact that Εὐρώπη (Eurōpa/Eurōpia) is first used as a geographical term in the 6th century BC by Greek geographers such as Anaximander and Hecataeus.
Certainly they weren’t thinking of enlightening the yet-to-be founded USA two millennia down the line.
Disclaimer
This is a Personal Thoughts piece reflecting the author’s personal opinion on matters relating to Apple and / or the products associated with the Apple brand. This article should not be taken as the official stance of Softpedia on Apple-related matters.