Puar's accurate name translation "Pooal"?

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

Nope, but that spelling does appear on Japanese merch.

[CODii]

All of this inconsistency goes to show how difficult it is to come up with an "official" romanization.

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

For instance, the main character. Toriyama says it's Goku sometimes, other times it's Gokuh. But wait, all of the official merchandise calls him Go-kou! What do we do?!

[Piccolo Daimao]

Pretty sure "Puar" isn't anything but some English translator asspull.

Wait, what? How is "Pu'ar" wrong?

[Adamant]

Pretty sure "Puar" isn't anything but some English translator asspull.

Wait, what? How is "Pu'ar" wrong?

I've never ever seen the tea referred to as such. Have you? If it's actually in use, it's certainly no common spelling.

(Google gives 25 hits when I search for "Pu'ar tea", none of which gives me the impression the writer actually knows the spelling (and a whole bunch of which are just the exact same text found via different urls). So yeah, I'd say its not an actual valid spelling)

[Piccolo Daimao]

Pretty sure "Puar" isn't anything but some English translator asspull.

Wait, what? How is "Pu'ar" wrong?

I've never ever seen the tea referred to as such. Have you? If it's actually in use, it's certainly no common spelling.

(Google gives 25 hits when I search for "Pu'ar tea", none of which gives me the impression the writer actually knows the spelling (and a whole bunch of which are just the exact same text found via different urls). So yeah, I'd say its not an actual valid spelling)

Well, no. But isn't it a pun on "Pu-erh tea"? Kanzentai refers to the character as "Puar", and in Herms' Name Pun Round-up thread:

Puar
Like Oolong, he’s named for a tea: Pu-erh tea.
Toriyama Explanation: “I thought of including Chinese tea, so for these two I used Oolong Tea and Pu-erh Tea.” [DBF]
Source Spelling:: プーアル茶 (普洱茶)/Puuaru-cha
Name Spelling: プーアル/Puuaru

[Adamant]

It's not a pun, it's simply the word. Writing it as "Puar" would be like writing Trunks' name as "Tranks".

[Piccolo Daimao]

It's not a pun, it's simply the word. Writing it as "Puar" would be like writing Trunks' name as "Tranks".

I don't understand what you're talking about. Are you saying the translation for the character's name as "Pu'ar" is incorrect and his name is just the tea? Because I'm confused right now. I've been thinking "Pu'ar" was an appropiate translation all along, and that's not because of the dub. Herms, can you shed some light on this?

[Adamant]

I don't understand what you're talking about. Are you saying the translation for the character's name as "Pu'ar" is incorrect and his name is just the tea?

Indeed. His name is プーアル, which is how you write Puer, the tea, in Japanese. It's the exact same situation as with トランクス, which is how you write "trunks", the piece of clothing. There's none of that "based off a word but spelled slightly differently" stuff you get in so many other names, a practice Toriyama didn't really start using until later.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I don't understand what you're talking about. Are you saying the translation for the character's name as "Pu'ar" is incorrect and his name is just the tea?

Indeed. His name is プーアル, which is how you write Puer, the tea, in Japanese. It's the exact same situation as with トランクス, which is how you write "trunks", the piece of clothing. There's none of that "based off a word but spelled slightly differently" stuff you get in so many other names, a practice Toriyama didn't really start using until later.

OK, then. Wow. I never knew that. Then how the heck did we get "Pu'ar", then? It can't be just from the dub.

[linkdude20002001]

Maybe the scripts from Toei wrote it that way...?

[Herms]

OK, then. Wow. I never knew that. Then how the heck did we get "Pu'ar", then? It can't be just from the dub.

Well, "Puar" is still a valid romanization of プーアル, just as "Tranks" is of トランクス. プーアル may be the same spelling as the tea, but in-universe it doesn't refer to the tea, it refers to the cat creature. So I don't think it's automatically true that romanizing it the same way as the tea is the only correct way (and it's not the approach the people behind "Pooal" took either).

[Piccolo Daimao]

OK, then. Wow. I never knew that. Then how the heck did we get "Pu'ar", then? It can't be just from the dub.

Well, "Puar" is still a valid romanization of プーアル, just as "Tranks" is of トランクス. プーアル may be the same spelling as the tea, but in-universe it doesn't refer to the tea, it refers to the cat creature. So I don't think it's automatically true that romanizing it the same way as the tea is the only correct way (and it's not the approach the people behind "Pooal" took either).

So "Puar"'s correct after all, then.

[Adamant]

OK, then. Wow. I never knew that. Then how the heck did we get "Pu'ar", then? It can't be just from the dub.

Well, "Puar" is still a valid romanization of プーアル, just as "Tranks" is of トランクス. プーアル may be the same spelling as the tea, but in-universe it doesn't refer to the tea, it refers to the cat creature. So I don't think it's automatically true that romanizing it the same way as the tea is the only correct way (and it's not the approach the people behind "Pooal" took either).

So "Puar"'s correct after all, then.

"Correct"... Well, as correct as "Tolankus" and "Pickoro". They're valid romanizations of what's written, but it's pretty obvious it's not exactly what they were going for.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Well, "Puar" is still a valid romanization of プーアル, just as "Tranks" is of トランクス. プーアル may be the same spelling as the tea, but in-universe it doesn't refer to the tea, it refers to the cat creature. So I don't think it's automatically true that romanizing it the same way as the tea is the only correct way (and it's not the approach the people behind "Pooal" took either).

So "Puar"'s correct after all, then.

"Correct"... Well, as correct as "Tolankus" and "Pickoro". They're valid romanizations of what's written, but it's pretty obvious what they were going for.

Well, yeah. I'm probably going to start writing it "Pu'er" from now on.