The San Francisco call., 1904-03-27
TROUBLESOME NAMES
AT SEAT OF WAR
Spelling and Pronunciation OF
Places i'm the Far

The war in East Asia is preferable
to our old friend the war cloud in the
Balkans in one respect. namely, of the
names it involves. Turkish names
were not particularly bad. nor Ruman-
ian. but those of the other lands and
peoples involved were literally un-
speakable. For what mere Anglo
Saxon tongue can do justice to a name
which written displays one vowel and
sixteen consonants. and spoken resem-
bles nothing so much as three coughs
and a sneeze? In East Asia there is.
of course. some incursiOn of Russian
barbarities Of speech. But so far as
Japan, Korea and China are con-
cerned. all is pretty easy writing and
speaking. Short names, abounding in
meIodious vOwels and liquid eOnsO-
nants. make the local nomenclature a
thing of beauty and a joy.
In so far as the names in question
are at all perplexing. the eircum-
stance is due to outside perversity.
The variOrum editions of some Of the
simplest and most musical names are
little short of distracting to even the
most philosophic mind. The seesaw
of "Corea" and Korea" we can en-
dure,. through long habituation- But
what shall be said of thesEame OF the
capital of that country? We were
brought up to write ii Seoul" But
some Of our neighbors persist in SPELL
ing it "Seul." others aver that Soul
is the only proper form. Still others
are satisfied with nothing but Sui
And now here comes an estimable au-
thority with the assurance that we
shall not know salvation unless we
write it "Seyool." In such case, what
are we to do? Call IL CONSTANT
nople' and go on to the next word?
Well, the next is Manchuria. What!
Oh, we'll, "Manchooria," If you please;
or "Manchouria," il you prefer; or
"Mantchuria." if you like that better;
or ''MantchOoria." il you insist upon
it; or "Mantchouria," II you won't be
happy until you get it. All six forms
are in use, and, for all we know, half
dozen more. Then there is Mouk-
den. There are those who regard with
pity those who know not "Mukden."
and also those who are prepared to
maintain "MOokden" against all the
world. Nor does the AmOor escape.
Some insist that 1t is the Amour"
while others with equal confidence
proclaim it the "Amur." or course.
too. there is the Yalu. OF Yaloo; and
also the Sungari. or Soongari; like
wise Chefoo. or Chifoo. or Chefu, or
Chifu; not TO mention Toxic. or
Tokyo, and Fusan. or Foo-San. and
but that way madness lies.
1t is probably useless to protest
against such vagaries. There is no
positive authority upon these names.
since the Chinese and Japanese Origi-
nails are not spelled with letters, but
are expressed with ideographs. Each
man will insist on interpreting them
/ as he pIeases; and our elastic Ian
guage makes it possible TO express the
same sound with "oo." or "Ou," or
long "u." Where. however such pos
sibility of diversity exists. With sub
stantial Indifference among the va
rious forms, il is a great pity that
uniformity cannot be agreed upon and
stuck to. When the world has for
many years been accustomed TO write
Seoul" and Soul" and SUI and
j "Seyool?" Granted that these also
/ express the same identical sound with
equal exactness. they do il no better
than the old form did and does: and
there is no use in discarding an old
and familiar thing for new anf
strange one. unless something is TO
be gained by the change.-New York
Il v-ft