From: jon@hackcraft.net
Date: Mon Dec 15 2003 - 12:46:56 EST
Quoting Doug Ewell <dewell@adelphia.net>:
> Patrick Andries <Patrick dot Andries at xcential dot com> wrote:
>
> > Because according to the articles this was the original English
> > spelling before the occupying Japanese authorities changed the initial
> > C by a K so that Korea would follow Japan in alphabetical order.
>
> This seems very misguided, if true.
And it doesn't seem true.
<http://www.postmuseum.go.kr/DownImage/000915165823000_1.JPG> is a 5poon stamp
issued in 1895-07-22. Japan's annexation of Korea began in 1905.
"Corea" and "Korea" appear to both be in use in the 19th century and into the
20th. Maybe the Japanese just wanted to have one spelling as a basic
standardisation issue, to make administration easier. Maybe they went for
something that would put it after "Japan" in a list because they couldn't find
any other merit in one after the other, but if the deposed Government had been
using the K spelling on stamps that might have been as good a reason as any
other. Did they prefer "Myanma Naingngandaw" to "Burma", what of "Filippines"
vs. "Philippines"?
> Alternative English spellings of non-Latin-alphabet place names were
> common in the pre-WWII era. In addition to "Corea," you will also find
> "Tokio" and "Bagdad" in American literature of the day.
I respect the right of any nation (or for that matter any individual) to call
themselves whatever they want, more troublesome would be if they wish to change
their ISO 3166 codes. CR is taken and CP exceptionally reserved, so hopefully
they'll remain static.
Todays threads are putting me in a mood to re-read Cryptonomicon...
-- Jon Hanna | Toys and books <http://www.hackcraft.net/> | for hospitals: | <http://santa.boards.ie>
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