Formosan black bear cub needs a name
Cuter than your average bear
A six-month-old Formosan black bear cub which is new to the Taipei Zoo needs a name, and you need to make sure it'll be a good one. Need inspiration?
Please don't let them give me a stupid, pro-China name!
(Click above to see the original, unaltered Taipei Times image by Lin Hsiu-tsu)
The first step of the naming process will take place from June 13 - 28, 2009 at the zoo itself.
All readers of this blog who are in Taipei during that time and who can make it to the zoo should go there and suggest the name "Indy." Each visitor to the zoo gets one "nomination card," and only 200 cards will be distributed each day, so get there early! Participation will probably require some Chinese-language skills, so if you need help in that area, be sure to bring someone who can assist.
The second step of the process -- voting -- will take place from July 1 - 14 on the zoo's web site. (I'll update with a more specific URL as soon as I have one.)
The name will be selected on July 18, and there are prizes to be given out.
The best prize, of course, would be if a name like "Indy" is chosen for this beautiful little creature!
Let's see what we can do! (Suggest other possible names in the comments section.)
Ursas major and minor: Taiwan, 台灣, Formosan black bear, 台灣黑熊
Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!
Labels: Formosan black bear, Taiwan, Tim Maddog, 台灣, 台灣黑熊
posted Saturday, June 13, 2009 @ 4:16 AM by Tim Maddog
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5 Comments:
Since the Taiwan bears have their unique white V sign on their chests, why not call this bear…
in English: Victory or Vic for short (or call it Niki because many words in western civilization had been derived from Greek, and νίκη ( is the Greek word for victory and is pronounced as ni-ki)
and in Chinese: 台勝
Indy because its short for either Indiana or Independence. Guess which one the OP means?
You do know that Indy in Mandarin refers to a certain part of a female organ, right?
If you pronounce "Indy" correctly, it shouldn't sound like "陰蒂." It should sound more like "印牴" (not a combo you'd normally see in Mandarin).
Learn your tones, Jay -- in English and Mandarin.
Tim Maddog
Tim Maddog, you may be technically correct but you should know that the vast majority of Taiwanese (whose English is less then perfect), when they try to pronounce indy are going to think of an approximate Mandarin or Taiwanese homonym. And when they do they’ll probably come up with 陰蒂, and fall about laughing. You are being overly pedantic when you say, "Learn your tones, Jay -- in English and Mandarin.” Jay has a valid point.
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