Maori place names

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tdgeek

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#2716026 31-May-2021 10:41

I like this bit

"We also speak English, NOT Maori. Remember that English is the language of the World today NOT Maori [sic]".

1. Maori is one of the three NZ official National languages

2. So, about 5% speak English as a first language, about 7% have learned it

more than 350 million people around the world speaking English as a first language and more than 430 million speaking it as a second language

GeekGuy

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#2716052 31-May-2021 11:25

Rikkitic:

This shouldn't have to be in Politics but I suppose it must.

I live in Hastings. Every time I search for something, I get Hastings UK. I always have to specify NZ and that really annoys me, which is the thread I wanted to place this in.

I don't see why (Pākehā) people get so worked up about name changes, especially changes to Maori words. Why not? Most places had Maori names to start with.

I would really like to see Hastings renamed to Heretaunga, which I understand is the Maori name for it. The name is easy for non-Maori to pronounce without mangling it too badly, it has a nice ring, it is distinctive and pleasantly exotic, and it doesn't carry the decaying odour of a distant colonial power.

And when I search for Heretaunga, at least I won't get hit with all kinds of irrelevant stuff about a battle of knights that occurred a thousand years ago.

It will probably get confused with the Heretaunga in the Wellington area.

Sort of reminds me of the Tutaekuri River down that way which literally means dog sh1t.

I am not too sure what Ongaonga and Tikokino translates though :)

OldGeek

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#2716146 31-May-2021 13:14

I have my language settings (in Edge) as English NZ. When I Google 'Hastings' the lead result is a Wikipedia article about Hastings in NZ. When I Google 'Heretaunga' the lead article is about Heretaunga in Upper Hutt but there is also a link to 'Heretaunga Hastings'.

So the result of searching for 'Hastings' is more definitive than searching for 'Heretaunga' when using browser language set to 'English NZ'.

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OldGeek.

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