[ExI] tao

[William Flynn Wallace]

Just got my copy of the Tao is Silent, and now a question or two:

As we all know, no Chinese language has an alphabet.  So we must translate
Chinese characters to our alphabet.  So far, so good.

So why is it that Tao is pronounced as if it were Dao?  Why not spell it as
it sounds- phoenetically?

(Sorry, have to include my little joke here:  In the movie Smokey and the
Bandit, the sheriff asks another sheriff, a black man, a question, and the
black guy says "Is that germane?"  And the sheriff, Jackie Gleason, says
"What the hell do the Germans have to do with it?"  And so, my little
addition:  what do the Phoenecians have to do with alternate spelling?)

And how about Deng, as is Mao Tse?  Pronounced as if it were spelled Dung.
Now I can see this one in a sense.  So as not to slur Mao, we spell Deng so
as not to give offense.  I have no idea if this is the reason , or what.

Does anyone?

bill w
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