Petone. Pitone. Pitune. Pito-one. Pitoone.
I picked up recently on the Hutt City Council’s current
interest in correcting the spelling of its suburb Petone. I sent a politely
worded letter to the council a few days ago - see below. No response or
acknowledgement as yet.
Following on from that The Post (formerly The Dominion Post)
published my letter (Friday 1 Dec) which duplicated much of what is below –
apart from a pointed criticism of the council, and a final political point
paragraph. I was trying to land within the Letters word limit.
Too many of our New Zealand councils are going down too many
rabbit holes or falling into the trivia swamp. The council sees the naming
exercise as a local Maori Trust’s initiative rather than the council’s - that
is the Trusts submitting to the Geographic Board regarding a name change. The
Hutt City Council website notice states in its support of the name change: “This is also in line with our Naming
Policy, and we are required to support the usage of appropriate names to
protect and enhance the character and heritage of the city.” Link
My point here is that the character and heritage
of the city has been well served with the name of Petone having been used
unchanged for all of six or seven generations. The name as it is, is the character
and heritage!
I don’t have too much of a problem with existing Maori
language place names. And I suspect we do have more than sufficient of Maori place
names. New Zealand English language (NZE) has happily or otherwise, depending
on your point of view, absorbed a great many Maori language place names, along
with anglicised pronunciations - we cannot all fake and affect Maori accents. In
language terms all of that has been accepted by all cultures over the years.
The intensely politically correct naming issues we are experiencing now have
become issues only since the establishment of the Geographic Board (2008) and
the passing of the Maori Language Act (2016).
The Geographic Board has focussed almost entirely on
applying Maori names to existing NZE names and applying new Maori names to
previously unnamed features. We now have multiple double-barrelled and
confusing Maori/NZE names. It is all one way traffic. I have not found any
examples of a Maori place name being replaced by an NZE name. Many of the
proposed Maori names are near unpronounceable. Check out the names to be given
to Auckland’s new railway stations.
Do we know whether all New Zealand locations and landscape
features actually had historic Maori names? The other Geographic Board focus
has been on “correcting” the spelling of Maori language place names and applying
macrons to almost every other place name. The whole Maori naming exercise has
become an out of control industry and a nit picker’s paradise.
To prove a point about nit picking. This is a quote from the
minutes of a Geographic Board meeting: The
Board noted the information and report provided (Linzone ID A5271475). The
Board noted that at its 2 December 2022 hui a compliance matter had been reported
concerning the MetService, who have not been using macrons on certain place
names on their website.
A quick trawl through parts of the current Met Service
website indicates the macrons are now in place. When the Geographic Board says
jump; jump as instructed.
What I am trying to bring attention to is the constant
corruption and undermining of the NZE language via the twin vehicles of the
Geographic Board and the Maori Language Act. We are being told that NZE can
only be improved by replacing, as many as possible, common usage NZE terms with
Maori language terms. Place names as already mentioned are also under attack.
We are seeing NZE being tattooed and graffiti-ed needlessly with Maori
language. There has been no case made anywhere to prove that Maori language is
fit for any modern purpose.
_____________________________________________________________
Polite letter to Hutt City Council
For Hutt City Council
Mayor, Councillors, and CEO
Petone. Pitone.
Pitune. Pito-one. Pitoone.
Which name do we want? Which name would Petone residents
vote for?
Your council has decided to indulge one of the local iwi by
supporting a name change of the suburb we all know as Petone. The council is
promoting the exercise as a simple spelling correction rather than a full-on
and effective name change.
The suburb was once an actual borough in its own right and
the name of Petone has been set in stone so to speak for closing in on 200
years - possibly more. Generations of Wellington and Hutt Valley residents have
had no problems in relating to and locating Petone; that is spelling it as
Petone.
The matter of spelling can be debated on numerous fronts. A
quick scan through old newspapers, on the National Library website (Papers
Past) comes up with a few variations. I found Pitone, Pitune and Petone. But,
no Pito-one.
Over time it has been said that linguists have sought to
eliminate hyphens from place names; making for simplicity in spelling and
pronunciation. A local case in point is Wainuiomata. Not so many years back Wainuiomata was always presented as
Wainui-o-mata. Removing the hyphen from Pito-one brings us to Pitoone. There is an upper North Island stream
named Pitoone. Some other streams there are named as Pitone. (Ref: Gazetted
Names). From that point is there a case for correcting Petone to Pitone? Or in
reverse should those stream names be corrected to Petone?
The list of Gazetted Names carries a line for Pito-one,
labelled as the original form of Petone. Which tends to say Petone was at some
point established as the official name.
It is doubtful whether Wellington district locals, and
moreover Petone locals, would thank any iwi and the council for renaming Petone
as Pito-one or Pitoone. The word Pitoone does have a rather odd sound to it.
Rhymes with spittoon.
As mentioned above the name of Petone has been accepted, in
legal terms also, for close on 200 years. The name is the name, is the name,
and it ought not to be interfered with. With all due respect to the Hutt City
Council the naming exercise is a classic example of pointlessness and a descent
into the trivia swamp.
A political point. The 2023 election result was a vote for
change. One of the changes sought is to have New Zealand move on from its
manufactured and slavish attachment to Maori culture. That is to say Maori
culture should moderate and curtail its expectations so as to follow the
example of all other groups within the wider culture.
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