The Ubiquitous Vuk

Yesterday I had an extensive series of encounters

with the gentleman on the brandy bottle.

He is, or was, Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic,

noted Serbian literatteur and orthographical

reformer. While resident in Vienna, Vuk

more or less taught the locals how to spell.

Vuk is universally known in Serbia simply as "Vuk,"

which is as if an American 19th-century

writer were somehow known everywhere

just as "Dave."