794 replies to this topic

[nagel]

So just like English then, got it.

Wait, you were surprised that RFS wasn’t totally gung ho about this?

[RFS]

Lol. I dont really care I'm just saying the crazy ever expanding phonetics are BS. Something like "esquimalt" makes sense. "sxʷeŋ’xʷəŋ taŋ’exw" is pretentious smelling of ones own farts. We are talking about what is for all intents and purposes a paleolithic language here

[RFS]

they never had an orthography but what leads you to conclude that they're just making it up as they go? who's just making it up, the linguists who use that notation or the natives?

Linguists mostly

[Nparker]

...I dont really care I'm just saying the crazy ever expanding phonetics are BS...

As much as I am generally loathe to agree with RFS, I fail to see the benefit of overly complicating the written versions of local indigenous languages.

[tjv]

OK let me rephrase. The CoV has selected a name that will be unpronounceable for 99% of users and staff of the James Bay Branch.

Correction 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of users and staff

 

Just another stupid decision by CoV council.  I'd like to propose CoV get taken over by a neighboring municipality because time and time again they have proven they can't make a good decision

[Bingo]

Correction 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of users and staff

 

Just another stupid decision by CoV council.  I'd like to propose CoV get taken over by a neighboring municipality because time and time again they have proven they can't make a good decision

 

A coup?  

[VicHockeyFan]

Ross Crockford once suggested we (the City) surrender to Saanich.

[manuel]

Disappointing that there are quite a few racial overtones in this conversation. Having been (incorrectly) racially  profiled and teased when I was young, suggest that some here need to look closely at what they have written, what they believe and how it affects others.

 

around 2% of Victoria CMA population is First Nations, so the statements above are either biased assuming that local First Nations don't use libraries or gross exaggerations.

[VicHockeyFan]

Disappointing that there are quite a few racial overtones in this conversation. Having been (incorrectly) racially  profiled and teased when I was young, suggest that some here need to look closely at what they have written, what they believe and how it affects others.

 

around 2% of Victoria CMA population is First Nations, so the statements above are either biased assuming that local First Nations don't use libraries or gross exaggerations.

 

Oh ya, typical. 

 

Look, more than 2% of the population is of Scottish heritage or Far East heritage.  But those groups - as far as I know - do not want us to use symbols and lettering that the vast majority of us do not understand on signage or names. 

 

Did anyone consult Songhees or Esquimalt Nation residents on the name, or did we leave it to chiefs?

 

Just because it's a native issue does not mean our discussion is racist.  

[amor de cosmos]

i hope the signage hasn't been done up yet, or if it has been, they fixed the w on the end of the l'kwungen name as it's supposed to be superscripted like the other ones. in every news story i've seen it isn't.

Edited by amor de cosmos, 25 January 2018 - 09:11 AM.

[tedward]

.... "James Bay Branch" or even "James Bay Library" which is what everyone is going to call it, including the staff who work there - although not officially of course. [emphasis added]

 

That is an odd comment. "James Bay Branch" is the official, English version of the name. 

[Nparker]

That is an odd comment. "James Bay Branch" is the official, English version of the name. 

What I mean is that the branch will likely ONLY be known as the James Bay Branch except in official documentation and communications. The average library user will probably be unable to read or pronounce the first nations name.

Edited by Nparker, 25 January 2018 - 03:51 PM.

[VicHockeyFan]

This is correct. So why not give it a pronounceable and spellable name that some would win.

[Bingo]

I don't understand why they needed an online contest to come up with a name for the library.

[sdwright.vic]

So the first nations name cannot translate to James Bay if the first nations name is the traditional name for the area- as there was no "James" Bay yet. So if they wanted to show respect- what English term would the original first nations name translate to in English, or does it.

****DISCLAIMER
Use of first nations name is because I don't want to try to make all the characters in the first nations name of the library with my phone keyboard

[Fairbanks]

What is wrong with naming it "Songhees" Branch?

[Kungsberg]

Phase 2, which fronts Superior Street in-between Phase 1 and the Queen's Printer building.

 

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[Barrrister]

I have a problem naming anything after a slave owning culture but that may be because of my background. I would not be wild about it being called "The Robert E Lee" library either. I hate it when people just try to re fabricate reality.  

[RFS]

I have a problem naming anything after a slave owning culture but that may be because of my background. I would not be wild about it being called "The Robert E Lee" library either. I hate it when people just try to re fabricate reality.

Great point. We should be Removing all haida sculptures to erase the painful memory of slavery

[Mike K.]

I'm surprised we don't hear more about the violent past of our coastal regions long before the European arrival. The history of this part of North America, from the point of view of territorial expansion, epic battles, enslavement and even cannibalism makes for some extraordinary reading.