The reader poll in Tuesday's edition of the Wellington's Dominion Post newspaper asked: Do you think an H should be added to Wanganui's (north island town) name?
About 70% of readers said "no" and I agree. Why change it now? However, the poll may not be as silly as it seems on the surface. Changing the town name to Whanganui would change the pronunciation and be a more accurate reflection of its Maori heritage. The Maori "wh" is pronounced like "f."
In addition to English, Maori is an official language of NZ. I rarely hear the language spoken on the street, but Maori was used in all official communications in my government job and it figures prominently in the names of NZ locations.
Take the town of Whakatane for example. Here, you can quickly separate the Kiwis from the wannabes. The tourists refer to this place as "wok-a-tain." However, any true Kiwi (or N to the Zed reader) knows that the correct pronunciation is "fok-a-taw-nee."
Now you know!
2 comments:
There is a similar thing in London. There is an area called Marleybone. But, it isn't pronounced that way. It is pronounced Mary-Le-Bone. Definitely a way to seperate the tourists.
And in case you think "Baltimore" is a three syllable city: it ain't.
It's Balmer, Hon!
Post a Comment