Talk:Suva

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Contents

[edit] REWRITE

Someone has vandalized the section on physical characteristics with words of complete nonsense. I erased these words, but I have no clue what was there beforehand. Not being an expert on Suva, I am not going to attempt to rewrite it, but it does need to be URGENTLY rewritten. ASAP

[edit] WORDING

"... when the geography of former main kaivalagi settlement ..."

given that this is en.wikipedia.org i can't see any reason for this wording.

it is not something that most readers would understand - you make the user click one more time - not very user friendly at all.

can i propose: "... when the geography of former main european settlement ..."

in an article from India, Darjeeling would not be described as a "a main Gorah settlement", just seems rather silly.

[edit] "Kaivalagi"

Rather than being "silly", this is one Fijian word that any stranger to Fiji might want to get to know, and not inappropriate for inclusion in an encyclopaedia. However, the main reason for its use is that the word "European", although it is also used in Fiji English to mean "white person", is insufficient to describe the people who established the trading post and old capital of Levuka, many of whom were Americans and Australians, and "Kaivalagi" captures this exactly.

As for this being "EN.wikipedia.org", do speakers of English have no interest at all in any words that originate outside England? "Kaivalagi" is a word that has entered the dialect of English that is spoken in Fiji, where English is one of the three official languages of the country. --Timonroad 30 June 2005 00:59 (UTC)

But it would not make sense to English speakers in England, USA, Canada, or any other English-speaking country except Fiji. This is an international encyclopedia, not a Fijian one. We should be very cautious about obvious Fiji-isms, even if they have entered the dialect of English spoken there, for exactly the same reason that the encyclopedia tries to avoid expressions that are exclusively British or exclusively American. Its meaning needs to be explained, not assumed. Perhaps we could reword the sentence ... something like, "Europeans, known in Fiji as Kaivalagi. David Cannon 30 June 2005 04:49 (UTC)
Articles about Australia use Australian English. Articles about the UK use British English. Articles about the USA use American English. I see no reason articles about Fiji should not use Fijian English. --Scott Davis Talk 10:38, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
My two cents on the subject...its interesting to know that the phrase "Kaivalagi" translates to 'of the sky' and the term for visitor is "Vulagi" which translate to 'sky spirits', in the book 'Fijians and the Fijians' it discusses these terms and indicates that its origin was to show that this person was a guest and not of the land, as in Fiji if you are from a particular area, lets say Lau Islands you could be referred to as 'Kai Lau' or from Bau Island it would be 'Kai Bau' etc and shows you have a strong tie to the land in that particular area whereas of the sky would suggest that you are from a faraway place....anyway I thought that may be an interesting point to mention, Vinaka Maikeli MB 03:35, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Tallest building"

Id just to bring your attention to the tallest building mentioned in the article. Although the Suva Central building was initially intended to surpase the Reserve Bank Building in height, this however is not the case. The Reserve Bank Building still overshadows the Suva Cental Plaza Building........believe me I go pass the building every morning......

The fact that Reserve Bank's base is slightly higher than Suva Central's might be the reason why it overshadows it. 210.7.30.36 02:50, 24 February 2007 (UTC)this is a page that can be made up so watch it kk
odd about the mention of the base, the reserve bank building also has two floors underground. just taking the measurement from the ground level up, the Reserve Bank is still taller. Anyone got a measuring tape?