01-23-2014, 09:07 PM | #1 | |
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Uluru, Ayers Rock, and Mountain Names
So, I was just linked to this article in a discussion about the old "A dingo ate my baby!" joke and I couldn't help but notice:
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Second, it's the "at that date known as" bit that really gets me. They make it sound like Ayers Rock hasn't been called "Ayers Rock" in years. YEAAAAAAAAARS. And that's just wild to me. 'Cause again, like I say, I have never heard anyone call Ayers Rock anything but Ayers Rock. So when did I miss the boat to Uluru Island? When did calling it Uluru become the hip thing for non-Aboriginals to do? We all switched over from calling it "Bombay" to calling it "Mumbai" at some nondescript point in the early 2000s. We all switched over from calling it "Peking" to calling it "Beijing" somewhere in the late 20th century. But when did the Uluru movement begin? Third, I've noticed this trend with a lot of mountains. English-speaking explorers named a great many mountains -- Mt. Everest, Mt. McKinley, Mt. Cook -- that already had names they were called by the local people. And in recent years, there's been a trend to call mountains by these native names. I think I've heard the name "Denali" twice as many times as I've heard Mt. McKinley. I see that New Zealanders have got the name "Aoraki" for Mt. Cook. And even Mt. Everest, the world's most famous mountain, has people pushing for us to call it something new ... although what exactly we ought to call it seems to be a matter of debate. (See: Mt. Everest's naming.) It would seem to me that that's what has happened here with Uluru: sure enough, the "Name" section on its Wikipedia article details that the dual name policy was formalized in 1993 and that it was not until 2002 that the Aboriginal name prefaced the English name. So anyway, time for questions:
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01-23-2014, 09:43 PM | #2 |
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Have you ever heard of Uluru by name before? Ayers Rock by name before?
Yeah, I have heard both Uluru and Ayers Rock. When I was younger I heard both Ayers Rock and Uluru, mostly Uluru, but nowadays I only ever hear people refer to it as Uluru. Are you Australian? Yes I am! Which name(s) do you use? If more than one, do you use them interchangeably or do the circumstances dictate when you use one over the other? Normally I just use Uluru. Though I would use Ayer's Rock if I was talking to someone in another country, because I would imagine that it would be the more commonly known international name.
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01-23-2014, 09:46 PM | #3 |
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> Uluru
Wut |
01-23-2014, 10:37 PM | #4 |
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Why are you people speaking in tongues.
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01-23-2014, 10:58 PM | #5 |
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Have you ever heard of Uluru by name before? Ayers Rock by name before?
Yup. Heard both. Learned them right around the same time (6-7th grade). Are you Australian? Last I checked I wasn't. Which name(s) do you use? If more than one, do you use them interchangeably or do the circumstances dictate when you use one over the other? On the off chance that I do happen to be talkibg about it I tend to say Uluru. Mostly because "Ayer's" always looked weird to me and hit my ear wrong. As for the second part, I've only talked about it once and the other person knew both names so I could use either. I guess I would probably say Ayer's Rock for people I figure wouldn't know "Uluru" and reserve Uluru for Australians. I guess. >inb4 only freak who knows "Uluru" but isn't Australian |
01-23-2014, 11:24 PM | #6 |
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Uluru is what it's called in Civ, so that's how I know it.
[/uncultured]
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01-24-2014, 01:57 AM | #7 |
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Uluru is the name of the mountain/rock/outcropping and it's a sacred site for Australian Aboriginals. Ayers Rock is whatever the colonists call it.
It's Uluru. |
01-24-2014, 06:31 AM | #8 |
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Well said.
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01-24-2014, 09:12 AM | #9 | ||
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In answer to Talon's questions, never heard of the name Uluru before in much the same way I'd never heard of Espana to refer to Spain until I started learning Spanish. I am not Australian.
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01-24-2014, 09:14 AM | #10 | |
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Quote:
It's Uluru. |
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01-24-2014, 09:19 AM | #11 | |
Archbishop of Banterbury
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>now in the most common legal and popular usage within Australia. English-speakers in Australia call it Uluru.
Good for them? The only purpose of language/naming is to communicate information; I can get across the information "I am referring to that particular outcroppy/mountainy thing" just as well (I'd argue better, outside of Aus) by referring to it Ayer's Rock as one could by referring to it as Uluru. Also "what it was called first" is entirely irrelevant, tradition has never been a valid reason for doing anything. What we call it is irrelevant as long as it gets across that we mean that particular mountain. Where I am Ayer's Rock does that better than Uluru. If I happened to be talking to someone who exclusively/almost exclusively knew it as Uluru, I'd happily switch to that for the length of the conversation. Armed the the new information that it's typically known as Uluru in Australia, if I ever end up in Oz I will refer to it as such.
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Last edited by Concept; 01-24-2014 at 10:10 AM. |
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01-24-2014, 09:41 AM | #12 | |
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Quote:
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01-24-2014, 10:10 AM | #13 | |
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Even if you want to call it Ayers Rock or not, it's still Uluru. |
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01-24-2014, 10:29 AM | #14 | |
Archbishop of Banterbury
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Yeah but the wishes of the natives don't matter one jot more or less than anyone elses wishes. Do I care if they call it Uluru? No, they're free to. I don't mind if in the next five years people worldwide switch over; if it becomes the common thing where I live I'll switch too for ease of communication. I'm not wedded to calling it Ayer's Rock. I do it because it's what I'm used to and because it's what most people I know are likely to know it as. But the natives opinion on what this mountain is called is just as irrelevant as anyone elses.
It's been changed back out of white guilt over things done by people who're long since dead to people who're long since dead. Guilt over things done by people who aren't us to people who haven't aren't them is a stupid reason to do anything.
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Last edited by Concept; 01-24-2014 at 10:34 AM. |
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01-25-2014, 02:27 AM | #15 |
我が名は勇者王!
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Pick whatever name is coolest.
If one's birth name was "Equine Ducklings" I would not look down on said person if a name change occurred.
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