Beijing Sounds — 北京的声儿

On Beizzhing vs. Bay-Jing — for the last time?

And you thought it was all over! Remember that undecided race from last summer? In the last update we noted just a few of the ominous gathering of lawyers, experts, hired guns and crackpots.

- Language log: here and here recently, not to mention others

– The Word

– Language Hack

– AP writer David Bauder (h/t to Language Log)

– LanguageHat (quite a while ago)

– Linguism here, here, and here

Oh, and I almost forgot, no list would be complete without the two didactic Chinese characters:
[YouTube clip here]

With such a cast, inevitably the race went to the courts. And then it went on to appeal. Naturally, Beizzhing* was depicted as ignorant and pretentious, perhaps even an ugly American (although the last post also produced convincing evidence that non-Americans have supported him as well). To her ardent supporters, Bay-Jing was, by contrast, pure and faithful — a model for the future of foreign place-name usage.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the jury box. Apparently, the experts could not be heard over the cacophony of “Beizhing, Beizhing!”.

Or maybe the jury just didn’t care. You can’t really argue they were paid off; Beizzhing has no supporters who care enough to bother. And those rumors about a member of the jury quoting from a headline…

“Beizhing, Pekin — whatever”

… surely cannot be true as such knowledge would have been a violation of the sequestering rules.

The whole enchilada ended with a whimper, the jury apparently issuing the verdict without fanfare in October or November. The only evidence that remains of the controversy is the new Beijing subway voice recorded in (now official) English translation:

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No, you didn’t mishear, really. It’s right from the #2 line:

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My sympathies to the partisans on the losing side. It’s never easy. Maybe you can take solace in the eternal truth that language changes. So you can still harangue your in-laws and coworkers — you can lobby the BBC pronunciation unit for stronger enforcement. And maybe, just maybe, come 2012, your competitor can dream again.

For the less strident partisans more interested in living their lives than fighting for an imaginary truth, here’s a final quote from the first editorial:

Beizhing is here to stay. Be calm!

As the lady says: have a nice day.

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*Bay-Jing = [beɪdʒɪŋ] and Beizzhing (aka Beizhing) = [beɪʒɪŋ]