Talk:Kombu
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[edit] Spelling of konbu
It might be a bit nitpicky, but I do have one problem with this article:
The correct romaji translation for this word is "konbu" (according to all systems except for traditional Hepburn, which is rarely used anymore). "Kombu" technically is not a valid Japanese word. I assume that the common use of "kombu" is due to a phonetic approximation of the softened Japanese "n" sound in this context (or due to old transliterations from the original Hepburn system, which ultimately amounts to the same thing), but as this spelling actually does not even precisely match the actual pronounciation, its usage is dubious even for that purpose.
In most places this wouldn't be a really big deal, but I think that the fact that "konbu" redirects to "kombu" in Wikipedia and not vice-versa, as well as the predominant use of the latter in the article, suggests to the reader an authoritative spelling, which is ultimately not correct, and in an encyclopedic context I do think it is important to use the more correct spelling in an article (perhaps with some explanation of the variant spelling and where it came from).
-- Foogod 20:25, 8 December 2005 (UTC)
