1954 NewYorker article about Tenzing Norkay

[Tricia]

Kind of a cool article I stumbled upon.

The Story of the First Sherpa to Climb to the Top of Mt. Everest

Tenzing Norkay has been on more Everest expeditions than any other man, and he probably “deserved,” if anyone did, to reach the top.

www.newyorker.com

 

[James]

Huh, the old spelling must have been with a ‘k’. Never seen it that way. Always Norgay.

 

[crosscountry]

Except his actual name has no 'k' nor 'g' in it!

 

[geepers]

Huh, the old spelling must have been with a ‘k’. Never seen it that way. Always Norgay.

Himalayas? Or Himalaya?

 

[Tricia]

I just thought that it was interesting, and then realized this article was originally from 1954.
Kinda cool.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

I always thought it was Norquay but I'm biased and probably dislectic.

 

[James]

Himalayas? Or Himalaya?

Apparently it’s the Himalaya or Himalayan.
Himalaya is singular and plural.
—————————-
Applying the word "Himalayas" to the Himalayan mountains is a piece of linguistic butchery that became popular in the last century and now seems to be in decline. Its origin appears to lie in the European fondness for pluralising mountains - the Alps, the Andes, the Apennines etc - coupled with a failure to appreciate that the correct plural of "Himalaya" is "Himalaya," just as the correct plural for the English word "sheep" happens to be "sheep."
———————-

Website Temporarily Unavailable

www.himalayamasala.com

“Norgay” seems the most common usage.

1986, New York Times:

TENZING NORKAY, 72, IS DEAD: CLIMBED EVEREST WITH HILLARY​

LA Times:

Everest Conqueror Tenzing Norgay Dies​

 

[Rainbow Jenny]

I noted the date and the author Christopher Rand. Nicely written. Now I’ll be looking up his other work.

Himalayas vs Himalaya
The Sierra vs The Sierras

Is it 'The Sierra' or 'The Sierras'? I found out the hard way

This debate over what to call the Sierra is about more than a name.

www.sfgate.com

 

[Rainbow Jenny]

And since his name is in Sherpa, a Tibetic language, does it really matter how it’s spelled in English?

My birth name can be spelled two different ways in English, Pinyi or Wade-Giles system. But neither come even close to what it actually sounds like. So I could care less about how it’s spelled!

 

[Jim Kenney]

That's a long article. I'll have to take the time to read it later.
From the various stories and filmed accounts I'm familiar with of the 1953 summiting of Everest - the world got lucky that two thoughtful and heroic guys like Norgay and Hillary were the ones that did it. It's not a given that greatness and goodness go together.

 

[Paul Lutes]

Him-a-LAY-a or Hi-MAL-ya??

Tiger of the Snows.

 

[James]

And since his name is in Sherpa, a Tibetic language, does it really matter how it’s spelled in English?

My birth name can be spelled two different ways in English, Pinyi or Wade-Giles system. But neither come even close to what it actually sounds like. So I could care less about how it’s spelled!

Well, no, but every language has to settle on something otherwise we go round in circles. It can change over time.
We know you as Rainbow Jenny.

Likely at some point before the written word, people argued about how ridiculous it was to try and make marks for spoken words.
The Navajo language wasn’t even formally written till the 1930’s.

Meanwhile, I guess ‘Norgay’ became the preferred form in English based on his memorial marker in Darjeeling.

 

[Rainbow Jenny]

Well, no, but every language has to settle on something otherwise we go round in circles. It can change over time.
We know you as Rainbow Jenny.

Likely at some point before the written word, people argued about how ridiculous it was to try and make marks for spoken words.
The Navajo language wasn’t even formally written till the 1930’s.

Yes, it's fascinating how only half of the languages spoken today have written form, many will never have a written form. Who knows how many spoken languages have been lost already.

In Taiwan I've seen street signs for the same road spelled 3 different ways. Having spent time working for an UN organization, one also quickly gets use to multiple spellings for the same name.

But it's awfully simple and straightforward to know you just as James.

 

[dbostedo]

But it's awfully simple and straightforward to know you just as James.

Yeah, but I still think of him as "Tog".

 

[cantunamunch]

In Taiwan I've seen street signs for the same road spelled 3 different ways. Having spent time working for an UN organization, one also quickly gets use to multiple spellings for the same name.

We don't even have to go to Taiwan to get multi-spelling roads - "Viers/Veirs Mill" and can you tell which end had more literate German immigrants?

The funny part is when people who have never heard the word source-pronounced insist on reading it in their own accent and vowelization - "because that's how it's spelled!"

Anglo orthography is effectively its own language - different from any variant of English it corresponds to - and everyone is working with a back-translation from the orthography.

 

[Tricia]

And since his name is in Sherpa, a Tibetic language, does it really matter how it’s spelled in English?

My birth name can be spelled two different ways in English, Pinyi or Wade-Giles system. But neither come even close to what it actually sounds like. So I could care less about how it’s spelled!

I dunno. Rainbow Jenny seems pretty straight forward to me.

 

[Tricia]

Yeah, but I still think of him as "Tog".

I still think of him as Taco Tog