Shakespeare asks in Romeo and Juliet ‘What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet’.
Well, I would tend to disagree with Shakespeare here, because my name is my identity. And I am offended, when someone spells it incorrectly. And if we are talking about the names of places, shouldn't there be a uniformly accepted spelling, rather than options to choose from at ones own whim?
Recently Merak (or Merag) has been in the news because of their issue regarding the blacktopping of their LG road. Kuensel says Merak, while BBS says Merag. Kuensel wins here, since Trashigang's dzongkhag website spells as Merak.
Another would be the recent news of a bridge being damaged at Doksum/Dhosoom due to falling boulders. But for me, the spelling hurt my sentiments more than the boulders. I have always been dealing with whether to spell my dzongkhag as Trashi Yangtse or Trashiyangse, and now even beloved Doksum (Dhosoom) is being mauled. Kuensel went along with Doksum, while BBS decided to go with Dhosoom.
A social media response from the Yangtse Dzongkhag with whom I have been corresponding, says they have been requesting BBS to correct the spellings but have been largely ignored.
So what's happening here? Is the transliteration being too literal? Or was it ECB who started this trend? Because I clearly remember, these 'new' spellings started after they started printing their delimitations. But isn't it the responsibility of the media houses to correct themselves, and in the process correct the public? Are they trying to push through themselves as initiating the change? I would l love to hear thoughts from Kuensel and BBS regarding this.
Whatever happens, in the end, everyone should use a common spelling, however they want to twist their mouth when saying it out aloud. Karma should always be spelled Karma whether it is pronounced as Kama or Karrma.
No comments:
Post a Comment