I took a short walk on the recently completed (save for some trees/landscaping that will be done in the spring) Dutch Village Road. I give it two thumbs up. The vibe of this area is getting better and better... this in spite of the new-ish building on the left in the second pic which is tres ugly.
I guess the P and T make a P or B, and T or D sound depending on whether they're between two vowels or not. Seems like all that performance taught me something today
I don't mind a mix of place names of different origins, and I think Mi'kmaq culture is/was underrepresented in Halifax. However, it makes sense to use an English transliteration or at least Latin alphabet and at most put the other language in smaller text. Much like how French is typically handled (and it can be flipped in a majority French area). People don't get offended about "Montreal" or "Paris" pronounced in English, aside from maybe equally performative types.
Around here they are introducing street names like šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm using complex alphabets designed for linguists who originally aimed to document and preserve oral traditions. Let's be real: people are copy-pasting those and extremely few can read it.
I posted this before but I was hoping something constructive could be done in Peace and Friendship Park, like bringing back the Cornwallis statue but putting interpretive materials that explains the history and what the point of the new park name is (which probably sounds silly to people who don't know about treaties). There could be more statues added of Mi'kmaq and French figures as well.
Last edited by someone123; May 28, 2026 at 10:09 PM.
Around here they are introducing street names like šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm using complex alphabets designed for linguists who originally aimed to document and preserve oral traditions. Let's be real: people are copy-pasting those and extremely few can read it.
One would have thought that even municipal planners would have realized the need to use the Latin/English alphabet in our fair land. But noooo...
I have gotten fairly good at correctly pronouncing Shubenacadie, and from traveling on the bus past the community college on Pleasant st, I know that Mawiomi is fairly straight forward; with some practice I will be ok with the new streets.
I personally don’t really care what they name the streets as long as nobody minds if I mispronounce them. If it doesn’t result in a 911 call going to the wrong place, then there’s no negatives that are important enough that it should be an issue. Once people become used to them, then common mispronunciations will be learned and accepted, IMHO. I wonder how many people these days pronounce Crichton Avenue properly…
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