The report of the Wanaka Community Board debate over adding a macron above the first a in Hawea probably surprised many readers.
Once again, as in Whanganui/Wanganui, the New Zealand Geographic Board proposes to alter longstanding local usage.
Once again, the local authority is opposed - although without the vehemence of the Mayor of Wanganui/Whanganui and many of the people of that city.
The inclusion or not of the macron in Hawea is hardly the hottest issue, at least at this stage.
Many New Zealanders probably do not know what a macron - a line above a vowel to indicate a long, rather than a short, sound - is, and they probably do not care.
But the powers that be, not just the geographic board but also the Maori Language Commission and many education and government institutions, have decided the future lies with the macron.
Expect, then, in coming years more interest in this subject, and a concerted push for compulsory use.
Proponents say the macron is important because it guides pronunciation and marks the differences between words which might be confused.
The New Zealand Council for Educational Research, for example, notes that keke with short vowels means cake and keke with macrons over each e means armpit.
Words pronounced differently can be spelt exactly the same in the absence of macrons.
When the Maori language was written down after European contact, five vowel sounds were matched to letters a, e, i, o and u.
Sometimes no attempt was made in writing to differentiate between vowel length, sometimes long vowels were written as double letters (as in Maaori), and sometimes two dots, like the German umlaut, were placed above the relevant letter.
The macron, which is employed in some other languages, has won out as the preferred method, and most keyboards can be set up for them. But there also needs to be the wherewithal to print the macrons, and the potential exists for compatibility problems between different computer systems.
The reaction of the Wanaka board and Queenstown Lakes Mayor Clive Geddes was sensible.
Mr Geddes argued that the pragmatic response was not to include the macron.
People would probably get the pronunciation incorrect even with the macron, and costs would increase, especially as the macron spread to other names.
The Lake Hawea Community Association also considers the change unnecessary and that adding a macron was unlikely to influence the present generation of residents to say the word properly.
The macron would become required in many place names, although fewer than might be first thought.
Basic words like wai (water), maunga (mountain), nui (large), puke (hill), moana (sea) all contain only short vowels.
However, O as in Ohau or the first letters of Otepoti (Dunedin) or Opoho all would need macrons, as would the second a in Whangarei.
The a in Maori, as noted, is long and would take a macron, as would each a in Pakeha.
Not only would initial and ongoing efforts to incorporate the macrons be substantial, but the same issues would arise for the Maori names of people.
The problems would be further compounded because, to be consistent, macrons could be needed for Pacific Island languages.
Some Maori groups, as well as various official bodies, are already making their mark with macrons.
The University of Otago uses them extensively, and the clamour will grow.
It is not just the Geographic Board which will maintain they are needed, and the ground for dispute is fertile.
Although it might be fine for macrons to feature in written Maori itself, they do not have to be used when Maori words are incorporated into English.
Whanau is a good illustration of a word used in New Zealand English that, for the pedants and politically correct, must take a macron over the first a.
But while most New Zealanders might butcher to some degree its pronunciation, most, through common use, also stretch the first syllable without needing a macron to tell them to do so.
That is the way language works.
Likewise, cafe can keep its "acute" in French and lose it when used in English.
Cause celebre, meanwhile, can drop both its "acute" and its "grave" - and, hopefully, the use of the macron does not become the next one of these.
