ANZAC or Anzac?

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Lang

I don't think the Kiwis find ANZAC/Anzac objectionable.

Not ANZAC, just Anzac. Much of the push for ANZAC over Anzac stems from a desire to recognize NZ more fully. The word Anzac when written puts NZ in lower case next to upper case A, which is symbolically insulting. Just like Anz Bank would be symbolically insulting. It's reinforced by actual insult, eg. Helen Clarke bridge incident as you say.

That's why I said earlier: "If we have some gripe across the ditch then let's address it constructively, without engaging in semantics over the word". Which means Australia making much more effort to be inclusive of New Zealand in meaningful ways. There's nothing we can do about the word because that's just the way words are spelt. Another example would be Benelux, the union of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It's entirely arbitrary, purely because Benelux sounds better than Nebelux or Luxbene or any other combination. Conveniently it also has some positive Latin connotations, ie. bene (good, well) and lux (light).