Island names 'not official'
By REBECCA PALMER
...... and also wants to make their English names official.
so if the NZ Geographical Board wants to make the English names official WHAT have they been recorded as for the last 160 years ?
surely if no name is official what other names up and down the country arent Official ?
....
Official this and official that - not in legislation - its sickening.
dont see the USA getting a name change after some Apache Cherokee Indian or England being called Bretannic, Albion and Ierna as was the situ in times of Aristotle (c. 384–322 BC ...
There are as many names for USA and Britain as there are languages in the world and the same for New Zealand. The Chinese map of the world has a few very foreign looking symbols to denote North and South Island and I dont see any amount of legislation or official this or that is going to make the slightest difference. The Indonesians name New Zealand as Zelandia Baru - the Spanish as Nuova Zelanda etc so really the only perspective is one of your language and how you see the world. If Maori names exist for both islands then theres no harm in them being acknowleged - I doubt anyones going to be criminalised for continuing to say North or South Island.
