Homeowners oppose street name chosen by iwi, saying the 17-letter name is too long (i.stuff.co.nz)

submitted 2 years ago by z2k_@lemmy.nz to c/newzealand@lemmy.nz

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I guess they didn’t want people to end up calling it P Road

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[-] eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nz 33 points 2 years ago

The name – meaning “to move swiftly in battle formation like the crab”

We can’t have anything cool in this country. We need more street names like this! I for one would be proud to live on the battle crab street.

[-] Fizz@lemmy.nz 14 points 2 years ago

If the people that live there don't want the name then it should be changed. The council consulted the local iwi and got a stupid name about moving in a crab formation, I'm pretty sure we can swap that out for another name without cultural uproar.

[-] BlueEther@no.lastname.nz 4 points 2 years ago

well it's a new subdivision that isn't named yet, the local Iwi were consulted and put forth papakangahorohoro as the traditional name for the land

[-] cloventt@lemmy.nz 12 points 2 years ago

It’s a cool name, but I agree its too long for a street. Would make a good name for a park or a reserve or something in the area. To me an ideal street name is around 2 or 3 syllables. “Acacia” is a pretty crap name too though, better to pick something with a connection to the land and the people.

They mention they’re arranging a hui so hopefully a decent compromise can come from that.

[-] Enkrod@feddit.de 7 points 2 years ago

Bah, I've been living on "Geschwister-Scholl-Straße" for years and Papakangahorohoro isn't any more complicated really.

[-] Mangosniper@feddit.de 9 points 2 years ago

How many of you actually did read the name? It's papakangahorohoro road. That's not toooo hard to remember. I already did. papa-kanga + 2x horo. It's not like it's eyjafjallajökull or something like that.

[-] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 years ago

Or something like Whangaparaoa road clutches pearls.

Also eyjafjallajökull is just fine if you're Icelandic.

Ditto every street name in Wales.

Papakangahorohoro (from memory thank you very much) is easy.

[-] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 years ago

Ditto every street name in Wales.

You should come to Aberdare, most of our street names are simple English words 🙈

[-] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 4 points 2 years ago

Aberdare

I admit I was making a poorly informed guess about street names in Wales.

Wales came to mind as NZ's currently rolling out bi-lingual road signs. Wales is held up as a model of successful deployment. A certain demographic are unhappy about this.

[-] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 years ago

It's all good. It just made me laugh when I was reading your post, surrounded by streets with names like Brook Street, George Street, Market Street, Wind Street, and Hill Street :D

Oh, and ignore the whiners. Our national park just changed its name from The Brecon Beacons to Bannau Brecheiniog, and I had an English woman telling me that it was discriminatory to a Welsh man she knows who can't speak Welsh...

[-] nick@campfyre.nickwebster.dev 7 points 2 years ago

That name is easy enough. I think people are over-reacting. Karangahape Road is fine and with English names not a single person in Wellington pronounces Majoribanks Street the same way (in fact, here are five streets in Wellington that are commonly mispronounced, all of which are English: https://wellington.govt.nz/news-and-events/news-and-information/our-wellington/2021/12/friday-five-street-names-mispronounced)