Mudi, the Name
What's in a name? Alot, if your dog is a Mudi, there is no lack of controversy in this simple name. The proper name of the breed is simply Mudi, pronounced the same way as the word - moody. It is not Hungarian Mudi, or Magyar Mudi, just plain Mudi.
The plural of Mudi when speaking or writing in English is Mudis or Mudi's.
The plural of Mudi when speaking or writing in Hungarian is mudik. The Hungarian language does not capitalize the first letter in the names of dog breeds. However the worst use of the word is when it is combined with a number, as in "I have three Mudik". In Hungarian, you do not pluralize words after numbers, you would say (of course in Hungarian) "I have three/három mudi".
This practice has caused needless confusion among newcomers to the Mudi breed and some in the breed have even been asked if a Mudik was a different kind of Mudi.
In America, and some other countries, this Hungarian language hijacking is even an accepted fashion in such well known journals as the AKC Gazette. This bizarre practice does not make sense (especially to a Hungarian) as it is done only with the Hungarian breed names, such as Pulik (which should be pulik, or in English Pulis), Komondorok (komondorok/Komondors), Kuvaszok (kuvaszok/Kuvasz) and Pumik (pumik/Pumis). For Hungarians communicating in English, to hear or read non-Huns distorting their language is ridiculous and simply not necessary. It only serves to show Hungarians how silly are foreigners. Only 3 Hungarian breeds' members have not adopted this practice, the Magyar Vizsla, Magyar Agár and Erdélyi Kopó, kudos to them!
Words should be pluralized with the spoken language's rules. Why do we not also use the German plurals for their wonderful hunden (dogs) such as Rottweileren, Dachshunden and Spitzen? We could carry this aberrant craze even further to include using the Russian dog breed names spelled with the Cyrillic alphabet too.
What is equally bewildering is that this phenomenon is with this Hungarian language element only, yet while it is possible to make Hungarian letters on an English keyboard, Hungarians almost never see their formal names spelled correctly with their Hungarian alphabet counterparts as in Péter, Júlia or Ádám. For Hungarians this is very sad indeed.
Language is a beautiful thing when used correctly, not abused for fun or fashion. We in the Mudi breed (and technically all Hungarian dog breed people) should follow the correct language rules and avoid using the Hungarian plurals when speaking and writing in English. At the very least, if we are not going to use the Hungarian letters to spell their formal names, we should not use their plurals incorrectly either. Our fellow Hungarians have shared their dog breeds with us, now we should show our appreciation for this generous gift by starting with this simple courtesy, the proper usage of their names.
