It seems the latest rage (well, since 2002) is to type "Korea" as "Corea." There's a lot of history behind this, and "technically" (as far technical as you can get with Western "bastardizations" of Asian languages), there's a lot of evidence why it should be called "Corea."

But for the life of me, I cannot bring myself to use that word. I'm not sure what it is, but that word seems ... very unpleasing to the eye. I've never been a big fan of the capital "C" (I know this is sounding really stupid, but it's 4am here so forgive me) to start a word.

But really. Let's stick with one version of a country name. The translations aren't perfect, but the way you spell it isn't particularly important. I'm just trying to get people to stick with one here. For my sanity's sake!! (And preferably the spelling with the "k")

Of course we could start getting really technical and start calling Korea Hanguk or Gorgyo or Chosun or something!

These types of changes always bother me because I always catch myself thinking before I type the word. Like with England/UK/Britain. AHHH WHICH ONE SHOULD I USE?!?!?!?

I just wish people would use one or the other. Maybe this is a subtle effect at trying to get the average American to learn more about Korea/Corea ("Hey, how come you spell it both ways?") ... but please for the sake of standards let's pick one. If every country suddenly decides to change its name for "technical" reaons, we're in for a confusing world of Confoederatio Helvetica (which I'm sure we would just call "Helvetica") and Nippon and ...
Posted by roy on June 2, 2004 at 01:14 AM in Ramblings | 6 Comments

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Comment posted on June 2nd, 2004 at 01:37 PM
just call it the motherland and be done with it. :P
Comment posted on June 2nd, 2004 at 10:57 AM
If we\'re gonna change it can\'t we go to the native name? It\'s like Japan... Japanese call it Nihon.
Comment posted on June 2nd, 2004 at 09:38 AM
hrm.
bastardization huh??

Like the brits unable to pronouce Beijing correctly... called it Peking.

While the Chinese have been able to a pretty large extent, correct the western spelling and pronunciation back to \"Beijing,\" we still have remnants of eurocentric stupidity in our dishes like.. Peking Duck.....
Comment posted on June 2nd, 2004 at 10:50 PM
Unless I\'m mistaken, I thought \"Peking\" was the proper Wades-Giles translation of the Cantonese word for the city... and \"Beijing\" was the proper transcription if naming the city in Mandarin?

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Comment posted on June 2nd, 2004 at 11:15 PM
You\'re right, <a href=\"http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Cantonese%20Pinyin\">This site</a> has an explanation of <em>Penkyamp</em>, the system used for romanising Cantonese.

When romanising Mandarin, one uses the more straight-forward and phonetic <em>Pinyin</em>. Good resources are available <a href=\"http://www.sinosplice.com/lang/\" title=\"Language division of Sinosplice.com\">here</a>.
Comment posted on June 2nd, 2004 at 04:59 AM
I for one am proud to live in the Dominion of Kanada, established 1867.

Oh, and when you\'re referring to the idnividual countries in the UK, use their names; when you\'re talking about the entire thing use UK or United Kingdom.

<a href=\"http://www.jhsph.edu/Press_Room/style_manual/u.html\">It depends on the context.</a>