4 ms·

I'm very surprised if the request from China comes with a western alphabet. PS: In Vancouver, they've been experimenting with a return to historic place names.

by nikanj 4y ago

I'm very surprised if the request from China comes with a western alphabet. PS: In Vancouver, they've been experimenting with a return to historic place names. For example, šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square (aka the art gallery plaza) https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/plaza-naming-project.aspx https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/plaza-naming-project.as...

sshine 4y ago
It'd be funny if it was considered rude to not refer to China in writing as 中华人民共和国. > PS: In Vancouver, they've been experimenting with a return to historic place names. For example, šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square (aka the art gallery plaza) For those who are curious about the "7", this is the ASCII-fication of the modifier letter called glottal stop (Unicode: ˀ): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop_(letter) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop_(letter) used by the Squamish people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squamish_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squamish_language The effort to revitalize the Squamish language has been ongoing since the 1980s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squamish_language#Use_and_language_revitalization_efforts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squamish_language#Use_and_lang... (Also, I'm not Canadian, but I found this character looking for some weird exception to "What is a letter?" when answering a StackOverflow question: https://stackoverflow.com/a/52644458/235908 https://stackoverflow.com/a/52644458/235908)
- 908B64B197 4y ago
  > For those who are curious about the "7", this is the ASCII-fication of the modifier letter called glottal stop (Unicode: ˀ): Why not just use the apostrophe "ʻ" as they do in Hawaii?
- cardiffspaceman 4y ago
  No big deal, but another entry in falsehoods that programmers believe about languages: Words never use Arabic numerals.
- nikanj 4y ago
  I wonder how they decided to ASCII-fy the glottal stop, but still included symbols like ʷƛ̓. Not sure why not use ˀ when you're flexing unicode anyway
dankboys 4y ago
Oh gosh, how unnecessary.
ASalazarMX 4y ago
> šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square Oh my, I don't even know the names of those letters. Edit: Found more info about this: > The area previously known as Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza has been renamed šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn, and the Vancouver Art Gallery's north plaza has been dubbed šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square. According to the city, šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn means "a place one is invited to, and a place one is invited to celebrate" [..]. The other name, šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square, refers to a place where cultural gatherings such as weddings and funerals are held. The names were chosen by a committee of city staff and representatives of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations. Each uses words from both the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language used by the Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, and the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh language of the Squamish Nation.
- diggernet 4y ago
  I am puzzled how the people of Vancouver (nevermind visitors) are meant to use "šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn" or "šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk". I mean, if you see things like "Musqueam", "Squamish" and "Tsleil-Waututh", you can muddle through as you learn the sounds. But if you see (the equivalent) "xʷməθkʷəy̓əm", "Sḵwx̱wú7mesh" or "sə̓lílwətaʔɬ", where do you even begin? Yet the official link above, while it helpfully gives both representations of the names of the peoples, makes no effort to do so for the new place names. That strongly suggests any signage will only use the unapproachable version.
  - nikanj 4y ago
    Everyone just copy-pastes the name and calls it the art gallery plaza. A mild prank could be played by copy-pasting a completely different place name, and seeing if people pay any attention - or if they just assume "š**** ****" to mean "that place right downtown"
    - diggernet 4y ago
      I see that most online references use some variation of "šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl'a7shn (formerly QET Plaza)". They seem to be very diligent about never providing any transliteration, even in their pronunciation guide. Which means that in effect, rather than giving it an indigenous name, they have instead effectively made it unnamed. What a completely wasted effort.

by nikanj 4y ago

sshine 4y ago

It'd be funny if it was considered rude to not refer to China in writing as 中华人民共和国. > PS: In Vancouver, they've been experimenting with a return to historic place names. For example, šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square (aka the art gallery plaza) For those who are curious about the "7", this is the ASCII-fication of the modifier letter called glottal stop (Unicode: ˀ): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop_(letter) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop_(letter) used by the Squamish people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squamish_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squamish_language The effort to revitalize the Squamish language has been ongoing since the 1980s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squamish_language#Use_and_language_revitalization_efforts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squamish_language#Use_and_lang... (Also, I'm not Canadian, but I found this character looking for some weird exception to "What is a letter?" when answering a StackOverflow question: https://stackoverflow.com/a/52644458/235908 https://stackoverflow.com/a/52644458/235908)

908B64B197 4y ago
> For those who are curious about the "7", this is the ASCII-fication of the modifier letter called glottal stop (Unicode: ˀ): Why not just use the apostrophe "ʻ" as they do in Hawaii?
cardiffspaceman 4y ago
No big deal, but another entry in falsehoods that programmers believe about languages: Words never use Arabic numerals.
nikanj 4y ago
I wonder how they decided to ASCII-fy the glottal stop, but still included symbols like ʷƛ̓. Not sure why not use ˀ when you're flexing unicode anyway

dankboys 4y ago

Oh gosh, how unnecessary.

ASalazarMX 4y ago

> šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square Oh my, I don't even know the names of those letters. Edit: Found more info about this: > The area previously known as Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza has been renamed šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn, and the Vancouver Art Gallery's north plaza has been dubbed šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square. According to the city, šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn means "a place one is invited to, and a place one is invited to celebrate" [..]. The other name, šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square, refers to a place where cultural gatherings such as weddings and funerals are held. The names were chosen by a committee of city staff and representatives of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations. Each uses words from both the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language used by the Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, and the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh language of the Squamish Nation.

diggernet 4y ago
I am puzzled how the people of Vancouver (nevermind visitors) are meant to use "šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn" or "šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk". I mean, if you see things like "Musqueam", "Squamish" and "Tsleil-Waututh", you can muddle through as you learn the sounds. But if you see (the equivalent) "xʷməθkʷəy̓əm", "Sḵwx̱wú7mesh" or "sə̓lílwətaʔɬ", where do you even begin? Yet the official link above, while it helpfully gives both representations of the names of the peoples, makes no effort to do so for the new place names. That strongly suggests any signage will only use the unapproachable version.
- nikanj 4y ago
  Everyone just copy-pastes the name and calls it the art gallery plaza. A mild prank could be played by copy-pasting a completely different place name, and seeing if people pay any attention - or if they just assume "š**** ****" to mean "that place right downtown"
  - diggernet 4y ago
    I see that most online references use some variation of "šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl'a7shn (formerly QET Plaza)". They seem to be very diligent about never providing any transliteration, even in their pronunciation guide. Which means that in effect, rather than giving it an indigenous name, they have instead effectively made it unnamed. What a completely wasted effort.