Blogger Loses Job to Homophonia

The owner of a Utah language school worried that a blog post on homophones -- words that sound alike but are spelled differently -- would bring up associations with homosexuality.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

August 04 2014 5:39 PM EST

May 26 2023 2:12 PM EST

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A language school in Utah has a bad case of homophonia.

Tim Torkildson was fired last month from his job as a social media specialist for the Nomen Global Language Center in Provo after he wrote a blog post on homophones - words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. The "homo" portion of the word was apparently too much for Torkildson's employer.

Torkildson says Nomen owner Clarke Woodger told him, "Now our school is going to be associated with homosexuality," then fired him, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

Woodger told the paper that his reaction was not an antigay one, "but that Torkildson had caused him concern because he would 'go off on tangents' in his blogs that would be confusing and sometimes could be considered offensive."

The school teaches English as a second language, primarily to foreign students applying to U.S. colleges and universities. "People at this level of English ... may see the 'homo' side and think it has something to do with gay sex," Woodger told the Tribune.

The incident has led media here and abroad, from the left wing and the right, to ridicule Nomen's decision and defend Torkildson; he has shared many of the stories on his Facebook page. There's even been a poem written about the subject and a humorous YouTube video (watch below) asserting, among other things, that "homophones are not gay headphones."