WAIS: A moderator's problems

Although I am infallible, I sometimes make factual or spelling mistakes and am grateful when WAISers point them out. I must also ask WAISers to reduce my editorial tasks by running a spelling check before sending me a message and to be careful with proper names. If English is not your mother tongue, it would help if you had your messages checked by someone who masters the global language. I get messages which I have to translate into comprehensible English.

Geographic names are a curse. For example, I got a message from Fay Afaf Kanafani mentioning places in the Middle East which I did not recognize. It turned out that they were places I knew by their conventional names. However, the National Geographic Atlas, following the current trend, uses a transliteration of the native name. Thus Jaffa, the old city next to Tel Aviv, is called Yafo. There are other spellings. We are supposed to follow the spellings given in the Gazetteer of Conventional Names, approved by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names and produced by the Defense Mapping Agency Topographic Center in Washington DC. The 1977 edition, which I have, does not have Jaffa under any spelling, so I suppose officially it does not exist.

I wonder if the CIA talks to the Defense Department. When I observe the confusion which all this breeds, I can understand why the US bombed by mistake the Chinese Embassy In Belgrade. Trying to make sense of this mess takes a frustratingly long time. At least the people of Jaffa should feel safe from our bombers. Officially, is does not exist, at least by any of the names I have tried. Any suggestions?

Ronald Hilton - 10/15/00