Russell/Kororareka

[Kenj]

I see the Maori are talking of changing the name of Russell to Kororareka. Interesting, they say Russell has no relevance to the place.

More interesting is when I tried to get a translation of Kororareka there were 2 different ones from 4 translation sites. Two sites said "Fun" and two said "Choke" Interested in the base from which the name was given a couple or more hundred years ago?

Ken

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I see the Maori are talking of changing the name of Russell to Kororareka. Interesting, they say Russell has no relevance to the place.

More interesting is when I tried to get a translation of Kororareka there were 2 different ones from 4 translation sites. Two sites said "Fun" and two said "Choke" Interested in the base from which the name was given a couple or more hundred years ago?

Ken

Back when we camped every summer in the general area, I was told the name was derived from the blue penguins often found up there...

[Olive]

There's this: "Legend has it that Kororareka is named after a broth made from the little blue penguin which was given to a Maori chief wounded in battle. He was believed to have said “Ka reka te korora – how sweet is penguin”, leading to the town's name."

And there's this: "Beach of Shells"

[king1]

There's this:  "Legend has it that Kororareka is named after a broth made from the little blue penguin which was given to a Maori chief wounded in battle. He was believed to have said “Ka reka te korora – how sweet is penguin”, leading to the town's name."

lol, that would be the ...

derived from the blue penguins ...

Soup anyone?

[SueDonim]

There's this:  "Legend has it that Kororareka is named after a broth made from the little blue penguin which was given to a Maori chief wounded in battle. He was believed to have said “Ka reka te korora – how sweet is penguin”, leading to the town's name."

And there's this:  "Beach of Shells"

The penguin meaning sounds likely.

Looking at the Williams dictionary, Korora = blue penguin and Reka = sweet, palatable. Both words also have other meanings though.

[decibel]

Actually, the town known today as Russell was never the capital of New Zealand.

The first capital was the original Russell which is today called Okiato.

So we should not see any big problem if today's Russell goes back to Kororareka as it was in 1840.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Old friend of mine was a lighthose keeper's wife for quite a few years. Raised her kids on the lights, supplied by ship, when weather permitted. Sometimes it didn't. She told me penguins taste awful, no matter how you cook them.

Having lived in a bach with a family of them living underneath, if they taste as bad as they smell, I'll pass on the soup, thanks...

[C_T_Russell]

Any efforts to rename is just an attempt of cancel culture.
Nothing wrong with dual naming and essentially that's always been the case anyway, it's just no one realizes it.

[king1]

Any efforts to rename is just an attempt of cancel culture.
Nothing wrong with dual naming and essentially that's always been the case anyway, it's just no one realizes it.

I see no reason why places can't have dual official names, it's what we have now? I would have thought that any wholesale name change would require a majority consensus?

[harm_less]

Old friend of mine was a lighthose keeper's wife for quite a few years. Raised her kids on the lights, supplied by ship, when weather permitted. Sometimes it didn't. She told me penguins taste awful, no matter how you cook them.

Having lived in a bach with a family of them living underneath, if they taste as bad as they smell, I'll pass on the soup, thanks...

That should come as no surprise considering their environmental and dietary similarities to those of mutton birds.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

And yet fish taste quite good...

[Kenj]

Not once passed through a penguin's alimentary canal

Ken

[R2x1]

Not once passed through a penguin's alimentary canal

Ken

Orcas seem to have have a different opinion (for fish that are halfway through their alimentary schooling).