EDITORIAL – TESTALINDEN VS. TESTALINDA

OSOYOOS TIMES-June 30, 2010

Some of our readers have complained in the past two weeks about how local media have referred to the site of the June 13 mudslide as Testalinden Creek instead of Testalinda.
The Osoyoos Times appreciates the importance attached to getting information such as names correct and we appreciate how jarring it can be to a community when the media gets the spelling or pronunciation of a name, especially traditional nomenclature, wrong.
In the case of Testalinden Creek, the Times, and other local media, checked our facts and questioned those officials referring to the creek as Testalinden about why they were not calling it Testalinda.
The term Testalinden has been provided to all media covering the mudslide and reporters, especially at this newspaper, aim for consistency and accuracy by not only using information from official sources and media releases, but verifying the accuracy of the information provided to us.
Testalinden Creek is the official name that comes up in federal taxation documents relating to the creek where the mudslide happened.
It is also the official name for the area provided by the Geographical Names Board of Canada, a section of Natural Resources Canada.
Go to http://geonames2.nrcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/v9/sima_unique_v9?english?JBAYJ?C to view the board’s official name for the creek.
We realize the name Testalinda has been used to describe a number of other features for the area by the community, including a school that once stood in the vicinity of the slide.
Research by this paper and other local newspapers has confirmed that the proper way to refer to the mudslide area is Testalinden Creek.
With respect to those who have become so agitated by the use of the word Testalinden, it’s hard not to wonder if the spelling of the creek’s name really matters so much, especially in the face of such immense property loss.
It’s likely that the people who lost their homes in the slide care little for whether the mud and debris that changed their lives came from Testalinda or Testalinden Creek.