Spanish toponyms in Catalonia

The Cataloonies are running a campaign to de-Castilianise Google Earth. Stick your oar in too, should you feel so inclined…

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Comments

  1. Thanks Trevor for the diffusion.

    You’re really biased. New is completely biased. This is a technical issue, nor a political issue.

    We are asking for the use of *official* toponymy. I think you need to learn some basic facts about Catalonia and the history of XX century.

  2. As I tried to explain over on the forum, I believe that maps should adopt the bottom-up approach by reflecting actual usage, which for many locations delivers two predominant forms, depending on the user’s language of choice. You believe that toponymy should be imposed top-down by an unrepresentative political class obsessed with the obliteration of Spanish. A great demon in a flame-filled pit is waiting for you.

  3. Just had a quick look at the Google Earth forum… quite a stand you took there.

    As the Google search test no longer works (Catalan toponyms are now significantly more popular), I assume you’ll be backing Marc’s campaign for a bottom-up approach based on actual usage rather than some obscure top-down naming system imposed by a faceless unrepresentative (and indeed unelected) bureaucracy obsessed by the elimination of Catalan. Or would that go against your political beliefs and affiliation with the UPA-Dance party or whatever they’re called?

  4. I tend to gree with Tom on this…. I’d love to see Catalan nationalists accept the use of Spanish toponyms when folk speak Spanish, especially when they insist on saying “Terol”, “Osca” and “Madrit” (I may have made one of those up), but the Spanish names are on there way out.

    I’d say that the Spanish name should be used only where it’s got current usage in English.

  5. Follow the baldie to picturesque Demasiadolimpio de Cabritos, a mountain town sited in the Spanish seaside province of Gerona.

    There you can also visit the premises of the Jefatura Provincial de UPyD, a bulwark of liberal democracy in times of ever growing totalitarianism and a centre of resistance against ethno-fanaticism in this part of Spain

  6. Whatever it happens to the names I congratulate of people worried about the Castilian in Catalonia. You have won now, Swiss Airways will take out the Catalan. Congratulations to all of you. Freedom must prevail Long live the English language and the Spanish too.

  7. By reading Trevor comment that the names should be related to the way they are mostly said )”I believe that maps should adopt the bottom-up approach by reflecting actual usage”) I imagine we should change Calella for Calela. And Venezia should be changed to Venice. Maybe, too, as some people pronounce Trebor instead of Trevor, Trevor should think about changing his name too. I propose to change names in order to make happy some people like Trebor, sorry, Trevor. Let’s say Sabadel, Vendrel. No account should be taken to the official language of Catalonia. Names should be look Spanish or even English as English and Spanish have more usage.

  8. Don’t misrepresent my words for your miserable ends. I said “A more sensible solution would be to present toponyms on the basis of a user’s global language choice. This is more or less the approach adopted by Wikipedia, and I think it works reasonably well.” I’m opposed to both the de-Catalanisation of toponyms by totalitarians in the 1940s and their de-Castilianisation by a new generation of totalitarians starting in the 1980s.

  9. Dear Trebor, by the same token you should oppose de-Nazification and de-Stalinisation wherever they may take place, since both have an in-built element of coercion.

    As to de-Catalanisation..well, it’s work in progress, isn’t it? Catalans are now to all intents and purposes in the minority within Catalonia, something reflected by the fact that the regional president of their semi home-rule govt. is none other than a PSOE apparatchik, not a Catalan nationalist by any stretch of the imagination -as opposed to, say, Scotland.

    So I honestly can’t see why you and other champions of Spanish culture & language have so much to gripe and moan about: irreversible assimiliation’s well under way, with Spanish firmly established as the default option as language choice goes.

    Actually, forcibly italianising South Tyrol toponyms never did the Italian state any good in its quest for national unity, as you know, it only fostered resentment among local people.

    If you really want to advance the cause of assimilation, don’t go around antagonising the Catalans, but rather let them feel better just because they’re allowed to use the likes of Girona, Lleida, Port de la Selva or even -my favourite-“Reial” Madrid, while talking to you -need I say so?- in Spanish.

  10. @Monster: as you may or may not no, ‘Reial’ Madrid is right on the money, what with it being founded by Catalans ‘n’ all.

  11. This finally proves that Trevor is an immigrant and not an expat. If he were an expat, he would live in Sant Cugat and would be totally against San Cucufate as toponym.

  12. Trevor,
    You have been in Catalonia for too long and therefore, as most of the Catalans, you miss the other necessary ingredient, to have “cojones”.

  13. Your manifested tastes suggest that my residence in Cataloonia would be rather less improbable than yours in one of the more buttoned-up parts of the USA

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