So You Think It's Danzig ... Or Not

[Babbler]

So there is this town in eastern/central Europe on the Baltic Sea. For many years, it was a German town and was called Danzig. However, they made few mistakes, lost a couple of wars, and now the Poles are in charge. So they call it Gdańsk. Now, what should we in the English language call it now?

I would Danzig, because it doesn't have any diacritics, and as a good English-speaker, I consider diacritics to be an abomination (they clutter up the lines in the page. Also, foreigners use them and that's reason enough to be suspicious of them).

BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK?

 

[Kraznaya]

Danzig, obviously. English is a Germanic language, not an Eastern European one.

 

[trader/warrior]

Having different names in different languages is stupid. Its Gdansk not Danzig, Firenze not Florence, København not Copenhagen etc.

Either that or we change EVERYTHING to have cool german sounding names.

 

[Mise]

We call it "Moscow" not "Moskva", so we should call it "Danzig" and not "Gdánsk".

EDIT: @trader/warrior, guess you can call it دبيّ instead of Dubai, or 北京 instead of Beijing. I'll stick with the English names in the English language, thanks!

 

[azzaman333]

It's Florence, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Danzig

 

[sophie]

I call it Danzig. because my German (Prussian) mother corrected me any time I attempted (or attempt) to call it Gdansk.

 

[Theige]

Its definitely Danzig.

Gdansk is virtually impossible for a native english speaker to pronounce.

 

[Wahnfried]

Gdansk is the polish name, the Poles are the owners of "Danzig" now.
In a historical mod the name of the city should be Danzig.
In a mod "after" 1945, the name of the City should be Gdansk.

 

[trader/warrior]

EDIT: @trader/warrior, guess you can call it دبيّ instead of Dubai, or 北京 instead of Beijing. I'll stick with the English names in the English language, thanks!

Yeah, However you pronounce those is the way it should be taught. Spelling should be as close to the pronounciation as possible.

 

[Shekwan]

Gdansk, because thats what Bishop Brennan calls it.

 

[Mirc]

Its definitely Danzig.

Gdansk is virtually impossible for a native english speaker to pronounce.

This!

(although I can pronounce it... then again I'm not a native English speaker... then again an average native Romanian speaker would find it virtually impossible too...)



Although, BTW, I'm really curious as to how English speakers pronounce the Z and the G in there. How do you guys say it?

 

[amadeus]

Why let the Germans win? We don't call Cologne Köln or Munich München. Call it by its old English name, Dantsic! No diacritics, no umlauts, and none of those crazy continental European languages.

 

[Ansar]

Danzig, just because I can't say Gdansk for the life of me.

 

[warpus]

To avoid confusion, Danzig should refer to the band only.

 

[REDY]

Imho both are possible. As Karlovy Vary and Carlsbad. But I go with Gdaňsk, wiki shows some consensus.

ED:I think that its not reasonable have diactrics in city names in English, so maybe best would be "Gdansk".

 

[warpus]

So there is this town in eastern/central Europe on the Baltic Sea. For many years, it was a German town and was called Danzig. However, they made few mistakes, lost a couple of wars, and now the Poles are in charge. So they call it Gdańsk. Now, what should we in the English language call it now?

I would Danzig, because it doesn't have any diacritics, and as a good English-speaker, I consider diacritics to be an abomination (they clutter up the lines in the page. Also, foreigners use them and that's reason enough to be suspicious of them).

BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK?

A large Kashubian minority lives in/near Gdansk.

They call the city Gduńsk - you should have included it in your poll!

 

[amadeus]

Dantsic still makes the most sense to me.

 

[Mirc]

Call it by its old English name, Dantsic!

You know... that's exactly the way "Danzig" is supposed to be read in German! (well, the last sound could be either a C, as in the English name, or a kind of an "H", but both work - I would use the H sound personally, but I know an awful lot of native Germans who wouldn't)

No diacritics, no umlauts, and none of those crazy continental European languages.

Funny that you have something against diacritics and umlauts - I don't know why variations on old letters are worse than invention of new ones - you know Latin didn't have any K, W, Y, G, J - why are those acceptable for you, while diacritics aren't?

 

[Mise]

Dantsic sounds too much like Dantastic.

 

[Godwynn]

Danzig