Thursday, November 12, 2015
Even more fun
Following on earlier fun.
Thought I'd try a tricky one. The Soviet mapmakers got the big Spokane in Wash right. (Спокан) What would they do with the little Spokane in Mo?
1. They got it even more right! Споукейн = Spokain. (Even more because оу fits the English long o better than Russian о by itself.)
2. I thought I'd caught the mapmaker using the old tradition of г for English h, as in Gmmmm! or Gollivud. Голлоуей must be Halloway, right? Wrong. It's not on the modern Google map at all, but the town was in fact Galloway.
3. Probably wrong but not for sure. The transliterator used French Буа-д'арк for Bois d'Arc. Missourans might pronounce it that way, but I doubt it. The tree is normally Боудак (Bodock) in that part of the country. [Later check: Both of us were wrong. According to Wiki, the locals pronounce it Bodark.]
4. The mapmaker consistently used the newer and more accurate х for English h, as in Хайлендвил for Highlandville.
Pretty firm conclusion now: The Midwestern mapmakers were using better sources than the Wash mapmakers. Probably human sources.
1. They got it even more right! Споукейн = Spokain. (Even more because оу fits the English long o better than Russian о by itself.)
2. I thought I'd caught the mapmaker using the old tradition of г for English h, as in Gmmmm! or Gollivud. Голлоуей must be Halloway, right? Wrong. It's not on the modern Google map at all, but the town was in fact Galloway.
3. Probably wrong but not for sure. The transliterator used French Буа-д'арк for Bois d'Arc. Missourans might pronounce it that way, but I doubt it. The tree is normally Боудак (Bodock) in that part of the country. [Later check: Both of us were wrong. According to Wiki, the locals pronounce it Bodark.]
4. The mapmaker consistently used the newer and more accurate х for English h, as in Хайлендвил for Highlandville.
Pretty firm conclusion now: The Midwestern mapmakers were using better sources than the Wash mapmakers. Probably human sources.
Labels: new toy
¶ 5:22 AM
