Polar bear deterrent program

I was amused to read that Of the 42 [polar bears that may be hunted in Nunavut in the 2011–2012 season], four polar bears are expected to be harvested by hunters in Churchill as part of their polar bear deterrent program.

It made me wonder what a “polar bear deterrent program” might be or how it could work.

“Hey, did you see us kill your cousin? That’s what could happen to you if you don’t behave! I mean it, buster!” ?

Or perhaps they’ll kill one, stuff its head and mount it on a stick as a warning to other polar bears—to make an example of it?

Magic E

In other news, I have introduced Amy to the wonder that is “magic E”.

l10n FTL?

I was just looking at Google Maps.

I tend to use Google services in English, and so Google Maps is also in English.

Apparently, this also includes the labels on the map, which I suppose is fair enough.

So there’s your Vienna, your Prague, your Munich, your Nuremberg... and your Ratisbon.

Does anyone really say that in English? I had to think a little, and the answer came from the corner reserved for obscure trivia rather than from the general “English-language exonyms” bit.

Ah well.

(…wait. Munchengladbach with a -u-? Really?)

Wow. I was going to joke that a map that included “Ratisbon” probably also called the Italian city “Leghorn”. Except that Google Maps does just that.

Is it April Fools’ Day today? Or was some editor stuck in the 18th century or something?

On the other hand, there’s a city in Poland called “Gdansk”. (I had to think of that one when I remembered the Wikipedia discussion on how to title the article about that city.)