H-ism

I always thought the letter "h" was a perfectly acceptable letter until recently. No better, no worse than any other letter.

I mean, do you folk see a problem with this h?

But in the North Island (otherwise knows as Te Ika A Maui), in Whanganui (sorry, make that Wanganui) it seems some people just don't like h's. Some colonist settler people in 1859 even appeared to think that an h appearing in the name Whanganui looked quite ugly in fact.

Not English enough. Apparently Wanganui (without the h) looked quite English to them Ok. If you say so.
Michael Laws (the Mayor of Wanganui) seems to have developed a bitter hatred of this much maligned letter. He has run local referendums about the potential re-inclusion of the h into Wanganui, fought with school children on the subject (their parents were egging them on, he reckoned), fluttered his mascara'd eyelashes while pouting through untold tv interviews.

But the thing is - its not just about an h really. Names very often have meanings. Whanganui means "the long wait" - the word whanga meaning "to wait". The name originates from the time of Kupe the great navigator, and in fact the extended name for Whanganui is Te-whanga-nui-a-Kupe referring to the extended wait for Kupe to return from his explorations into the interior.

T'ere is no such word as wanga so to read t'e word Wanganui in te reo Maori is as absurd and makes as much sense as reading t'e name Wasington, US. Or Pert', Australia. Obart in Tasmania. 'ow about Orseshoe Falls or 'Amilton County - crikey we s'ould all be cockneys e' Mic'ael.