Papa-kanga-horo-horo. Eight syllables, pretty straightforward. My Māori is pretty trash, but after one read of it and a handful of times saying it out loud it's pretty simple.

My advice to anyone complaining about it is to just say it out loud a few times. I guarantee that by the time you've said it to the moving company, the power company, the insurance company and your mum, you'll have it locked down.

It also has the added bonus of being completely unique, so there's no chance of your ambulance being dispatched to park terrace on the other side of town while you're choking on park road.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's definitely a lot easier when you break it up like that.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, Māori is actually pretty easy to pronounce if you break it apart. There are only five vowel sounds and they don't change depending on context like with English. The only downside is that names are often comprised of several words smooshed together, so you have to pick it apart yourself the first time you read it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If I can say shmutzfangmatten then I can say Papakangahorohoro. I bet half the people complaining wouldn't be if they were trying to name it for a (hypothetical) historical German doormat factory instead of giving it a perfectly cromulent Maori name (I think something to do with earthquakes?).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I definitely couldn't pronounce shmutzfangmatten though, and I doubt most of NZ could either. I also think there would be a similar push back if you tried to name a street that.

Kinda a ridiculous hypothetical to be honest.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah, it is much easier when you read it and then say what you read.