Vitaliy M. wrote:I did not want to say it, but I will. It makes me sick that they (news articles etc) call the other team members simply as 'Sherpas.' Everyone has a name (and credibility report in most cases), but those individuals are just 'Sherpas.' What the hell? Is 'Sherpas' a different word for 'porters' nowadays? It's like they are sub humans or something. From the article it is a bit confusing to understand if they are team members, or are they used to carry more gear, or what?
I think it's something that gets lost in translation and it's not meant to be disrespectful - you have some experience in that Vitaliy, don't you?
You may be extrapolating a bit from the article. Sherpa is a word used for a people - and it's a word spelled using a 'Western' alphabet trying to imitate an 'Eastern' sound. If we really wanted to be PC, then we should be using thier languange and their alphabet to call each person by their name - but I'm guessing that other than Bruno maybe, not too many folks on this forum have a keyboard in Sherpa or speak Sherpa. If the dude really is named Fred or Joe or Sally, then yes, the writer of the article should say Fred Sherpa from Kathmandu, who enjoys windsurfing and romantic walks on the beach climbed to 23,000 ft today... blah, blah, blah. But if his name is something difficult to pronounce (by Western audiences) or difficult to spell (with Western keyboards), then maybe just saying Sherpa is the way to go? It's certainly better than making up a name for the guy, right? Remember the intended audience of the article is folks who predominately speak English and live in different places.
(Dorfman. Your new name is Flounder.)