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Thread ID: 80091 2007-06-11 06:55:00 Does Metla live in Wanganui or Whanganui? Sweep (90) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
558130 2007-06-11 12:03:00 And further more who ever is coaching our news readers on pronunciations of local areas has to be taking the piss, They must be trying to distort it as far as possible just to make it hard to pronounce and thus "more maori".

I have heard place names mentioned that I have been around all my life and not recognized where they were talking about until pics were shown.

Yeah don't they know that Gonville is correctly pronounced "Gone - Burger" 		Twelvevolts (5457)
558131 2007-06-11 12:05:00 Beware the Gonvillions. Metla (12)
558132 2007-06-11 19:45:00 The locals 100 years ago pronounced it without an H, the locals in present times pronounce it without an H.Correct. The locals 200 years also MAY have pronounced it without or with the silent h (I wasn't here, I can't say for sure). It all depends on the meaning of who/what Wanganui was named after
Since the dawn of written word in NZ it has never been written with an H.According to who?


Now some out of towners want to bend the place to fit there view. They can go to hell. Take note that the same groups that insist it has an H also pronounce it with the H.

There is no H. Having no written language the concept of a silent letter wouldn't have made much sense would it?. The fact is that the Maori industry don't think it sounds Maori enough, Even though thats the way it was and is.

I'm no more concerned with Te Reo then I am concerned with the "European way" you speak of, Im a New Zealander, surrounded by New Zealanders.The out of towners of who you speak I assume are Maori? Again, Maori is dialectal, acording to what area you stem from. For instance, traditional Ngai Tahu speakers drop the ng and replace it with a k (so Ngai Tahu becomes Kai Tahu).

Beware the Gonvillions.What the heck is a Gonvillion?

In the end Metla, you and I could argue till the cows come home, but will either one of us be 100% correct? Doubtful, we see what we want and believe we see :) 		Myth (110)
558133 2007-06-11 21:14:00 As a matter of fact I am 100 percent correct, so in that regard no further discussion is required.:D

And if you don't know what a Gonvillion is then lets hope you never find out.:illogical 		Metla (12)
558134 2007-06-11 21:37:00 if you don't know what a Gonvillion is My guess is that it's a member of the Godzilla race of creatures, who lived in a community of Godzillions, whose town was called Godvillia. Hence they were known as Godvillions, ie residents of Godvillia, but as luck would have it the town didn't prosper so they all left - they were all gone from Godvillia, therefore they became known as Gonvillions, or in Metla's case, a Gonvillain.

Simple. 		Greg (193)
558135 2007-06-11 21:54:00 My guess is that it's a member of the Godzilla race of creatures, who lived in a community of Godzillions, whose town was called Godvillia. Hence they were known as Godvillions, ie residents of Godvillia, but as luck would have it the town didn't prosper so they all left - they were all gone from Godvillia, therefore they became known as Gonvillions, or in Metla's case, a Gonvillain.

Simple.

Nope. Imaginative though :thumbs:

And Mets is correct.....some of them are trouble! 		allblack (6574)
558136 2007-06-11 21:58:00 Or does it mean that european (when asking what this place name was or that place name) didn't hear the wh (f in english) because it was pronounced as w so automatically ASSUMED it didn't have an h in it? Yes it is written as Wanganui, but only coz thats the european way

Or does it mean that the wh didn't mean an f sound at the time

"wh counts as a consonant; the standard modern pronunciation is close to the 'f' sound; in some districts it is more like an 'h'; in others more like a 'w' without the 'h'; in others again more like the old aspirated English pronunciation of 'wh' (huence for whence)" www.nzhistory.net.nz


The locals 100 years ago pronounced it without an H, the locals in present times pronounce it without an H. Since the dawn of written word in NZ it has never been written with an H.


Dig up Mr Bowden and tell him he made a spelling mistake in 1872.

"The Chronicle viewed yesterday a copy of the Manual Of New Zealand Geography, by Thomas A Bowden, assisted by James Hector, geologist to the New Zealand Government, published in 1872.

There are several references to the town of Whanganui, with the river Whanganui mentioned in the same book. In a reference to the town on page 79, the book describes “the flourishing town and port of Whanganui…” "
www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz 		PaulD (232)
558137 2007-06-11 21:59:00 It all depends on the meaning of who/what Wanganui was named after According to who?

Whanganui means great mouth or estuary....referring to the mouth of the river.

As has been stated, the "h" has been dropped in modern dialect. 		allblack (6574)
558138 2007-06-11 23:57:00 Lets not be so arrogant as to claim to know the meaning of Wanganui, fierce debate rages even amongst those who think its their birth right to force their views of spelling and pronunciation upon the locals.


(hell, I just saw a pattern)

As for Thomas A Bowden, He must of been an out of towner, and must have asked another out of towner for confirmation, Way to go. 		Metla (12)
558139 2007-06-12 00:49:00 As a matter of fact I am 100 percent correct, so in that regard no further discussion is required.:D

And if you don't know what a Gonvillion is then lets hope you never find out.:illogical

A resident of Gonville in Fonganui I believe....

There again I could be wrong.;)

I brought this subject up as I once lived in Wanganui and the Wanganui River flowed though Wanganui. There was never a suggestion that either the City or the River had alternative spelling or pronunciation until recently. 		Sweep (90)
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