The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-01-05
WIZ?

The playful expressman who, in the
interests OF brevity and hig supply Of
lampblack, stencils Wix instead OF
Wickes upon his packages, is to have his
flights Of fancy curbed. The tricky
sprite from Great Falls may still get in
his deadly work on the orthography Of
quire, but, SO far as geographical names
are concerned, his occupation is gone.
or recent years the confusion in regard
to the correct method OF spelling and
pronunciation Of geographical names
has been provocative OF much confusion,
not only to the general public, but to
postoffice officials, photographers. and
others specially interested. In Montana
we have decided for good ON the correct
pronunciation OF Our capital city, but
there are plenty Of 'tender-feet" in the
eastern states who place the accent on
the penultimate syllable. Is it Assina-
boine or Assinniboine: Ought we to
place the accent or the antepenult or on
the last syllable? Out Of the general
chaos order is being slowly evolved by
the labors Of the United States geo
graphical board, which was instituted
last September. Their first report has
just come to.hand, and while a passing
glance throws no light on peculiarly
local questions, it settles many others in
common use.
In their purely preliminary work, the
board has shown a ~commendabie regard
for system and uniformity. Each Of the
Kaleidoscope vowels in our language is
to be tied down to some definite sound.
A, for instance, is to be sounded always
AS IN father: j, as in ravinc; and so ON.
Iowa will hereafter be Iowa with the
accent III the last, and Arkangaw will
replace Arkansas. Subject to due re-
gard for euphony and descriptive power,
the possessive form will hereafter be
avoided, and Hudson Bay is stamped
with the seal Of the boards approval.
Foreign names, expressed in Roman
characters, are to be represented by the
principal sounds Of the words AZ pro.
nounced in the native tongue. There
is, certainly, no need Of trangliteratiop.
but this last ruling would seem 10 ac-
count for the ~transmutation Of Porto
Rico into Puerto Rico.
In every special instance, the BOARD
eeems to have spared no research or
pains IN arriving at a correct ~conciuz
sion. For example, in deciding OF the
form Boring, they sum up their ~inyesti,
CATION as follows:
When the Car, Peter the Great. deter
mined to send out an exploring eypedit,or
to ascertain whether Asia and America
were united by land he selected to lead this
expedition Captain Commander Ivan Ivan.
ovich Bering. Bering was the son Of iona,
oyendsen by his second wife Annie peders.
datter Bering, and WAS born at Horseus. II
Jutland in tie summer of 1881. On hi,
mothers side he was descended from tn,
distinguished Bering family which durins
the seventeenth and eighteenth c~entnrie
fourished in various parts Of Denmark
and including a number of ministers an,
judicial officers. Baptized on the 18th o
August. 1851, he received the bap.isma
name Wins Jonassen Boring. On enteriu,
the Russian navy, however, he took, az wa
the custom of the Danish and Swedish Of
fcers serving in Russia, a new or Russian
Ized form of name. This foTn is Iva
Ivnnovich BerIng. The name Iyanovich
IN exact trasiation of Jonassen: in English
johnson or Johns son. All the Russia
and Danish records agree an to the spelIin
of the family name; both in Danish an