George Town or Georgetown? — Zuhairy Fauzy

MM:

George Town or Georgetown? — Zuhairy Fauzy

Sunday, 12 Mar 2023 10:01 AM MYT


MARCH 12 — I adore George Town. Everywhere you walk, you’re constantly aware that you’re ambling in the shadows of more than two centuries of history.

Everywhere you look, you’ll find footprints left behind by the countless peoples that once lived here and plied their trade in the bustling entrepôt — from the great emporia and stately buildings along Pengkalan Weld (Weld Quay) and Lebuh Pantai (Beach St), the infinite rows of Chinese shophouses with their quaint wooden shutters and bas-relief carvings, to the beautiful mosques, temples, and churches all standing in peaceful proximity to each other.


There really is no other place in the world like the old centre of George Town, and it has truly and rightfully earned its recognition as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

For a city with such a distinguished history and so widely promoted on the country’s tourist maps, it’s therefore a little perplexing that there appears to be some inconsistencies in the spelling of the city’s name, the most common being “Georgetown” spelt as a single word.


Unfortunately, this spelling is rather ubiquitous: you see it on government letterheads and websites, on street signs and private addresses, even on national ID cards.


To be fair though, the confusion isn’t new; a few older buildings such as Georgetown [sic] Chambers on Gat Lebuh Cina (China St Ghaut), which incidentally turns 100 this year, have perpetuated the single-word spelling for a good many decades now.

For a city with such a distinguished history and so widely promoted on the country’s tourist maps, it’s therefore a little perplexing that there appears to be some inconsistencies in the spelling of the city’s name, the most common being Georgetown spelt as a single word. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin

So, which is it then? “George Town” or “Georgetown”? One word or two?

I believe it should be “George Town” (in case that isn’t already apparent from this article). Some years ago, this had been eloquently pointed out by Mr Sanjay C.S. in his letter to The Star in 2015.

More pertinently, historical maps of the city have predominantly spelt the city’s name as “George Town” from its earliest days, as can be seen, for instance, in an 1807 surveying map by Jeremiah McCarthy, as well as another map from 1871.

It’s also worth noting that curators of the city’s heritage, such as Penang Heritage Trust and George Town World Heritage Incorporated, not to mention Unesco itself, consistently use the two-word spelling “George Town” on all of their publications.

Having said so, we might have to acknowledge that we will continue to see the one-word spelling “Georgetown” for the foreseeable future — perhaps indefinitely.

Maybe it is for convenience; spelling it as one word would save a little bit of space on signboards, for example.

Convenience can, however, simply be a poor excuse for apathy. It would be ideal if we could stick to one official spelling (that is, with two words as things have historically always been), but at the same time it is quite likely that the misspelling “Georgetown” is destined to remain, like a tiny itch you can’t really get rid of.

The least we could do is to feature the spelling “George Town” much more prominently, for instance in official government documentation, company addresses, and tourist brochures.

In the end, however its name is spelt, may George Town’s timeless charm live on and continue to fascinate its visitors for many more centuries to come.