[GOANET] Place names.....

[Gilbert Lawrence]

I have been following the “intellectual” discussion on name-changes of towns and cities with interest.  The last exchange suggested that someone missed their role of Professor Higgins in the movie My Fair Lady.  Here are examples: “indepth knowledge of konknii and Goa... "l" which in Konknii is a pretty deeply pronounced consonant and should be probably written as "ll"...a double l is not pronounced properly...definitely has a more "ha" sound after the M and a nasal "n" sound at the end …. leave out the deep l and replace it with a light l sound or even a "d" sound.   As in the case of Prof Higgins, his best friend and even his mother had a disdain for him not to mention the school drop-out Cockney gal from East London.  The indigenous and expat Goans engaged in this discussion, should take time out (spinning their wheels) and work on Goa’s own Navhind Times short writing project for June and perhaps win a prize.    To help the topic is: “Why do Goan youth fail in all-India competitions whether govt. services or in the private sector? Is something lacking in them or in the environment?”   After the above is solved, Goans can work on creating new prosperous cities rather than critiquing individuals who came to Goa 500 years ago and transformed Goa from a collection of sleepy fishing and farming villages to a major port and a city (Old Goa) which was larger and more prosperous in commerce and art than many capital cities in Europe.  With new cities and towns, Goan intellectuals can then display their creativity with new and innovative names.  Regards. GL