On 20/01/2010 10:26, Peter Beale wrote:
Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 19/01/2010 18:57, Charles Ellson wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:59:18 +0000, Peter
wrote:

Charles Ellson wrote:

In other cases there was an established spelling but as applies in
this someone came along later and recorded/copied it incorrectly.
Rum/Rhum
Hannover/Hanover
Hazelton/Hazleton (Pennsylvania - allegedly misspelled in the
incorporation documents in 1857 and "it's too late to change it now")

Surely Hannover/Hanover is not a misspelling, but simply the English
version - cf Wien/Vienna and countless others.

IOW a stranger getting it wrong.

Was there such a thing as "right" at the time? And anyway, isn't it
potentially racist to suggest that a stranger's opinion is less valid
than a local opinion?

No-one's suggesting it is less valid - just that in another language it
may be rendered differently.

Try somewhere like the Grauniad.

Or do you always refer to Bangkok as Krung Thep Mahanakhon?

Why abbreviate it?

Wasn't Bangkok where the European trading post and port was, so
foreigners calling the whole modern city Bangkok is sort-of a bit like
someone calling London "Isle of Dogs" or something? Or maybe in modern
terms, "Heathrow".

There's nothing potentially racist in the French
speaking of Êdimbourg or Pêkin - or the British speaking of Peking or
Bombay!

Ah, but Britons are evil imperialists, while the French are foreigners.
There seemed to be more outrage at the Times style guide than there was
at the terrorists who attacked Victoria Term^H^H^H^H^H CST.

The French still seem to put an "s" on Lyon or Marseille in English, yet
we've given up.

Myanmar/Burma is one where it is impossible to win, as you are either an
agent of British colonialism or a supporter of the junta.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK