Talk:Pankun

As currently written, the opening sentence is misleading. It suggests that "Pankun" is the correct English spelling and that "Pan-kun" is a sometimes-seen but lesser romanization.

As far as frequency of use goes, judging from Google returns the two seem to be neck-and-neck. "Pankun" in quotes returns 89,900 hits, while "Pan-kun" in quotes returns 142,000. (The quotes are necessary because without them results are returned as "pan and also kun" for quoteless "Pan-kun" searches.)

As far as correctness goes, while romanization trends evolve over time, it has been the case for quite some time to place a hyphen between suffix titles and the names they're attached to. For example, "Tamura-sensei" and not "Tamurasensei." Or "Mako-chan" and not "Makochan." Given this, one could argue that Pan-kun is not only as correct as Pankun, but in fact is actually more correct.

— I second this.

Finally, there is the issue of non-native speaker confusion over the chimpanzee's actual name. Bilingual readers will doubtless recognize that the animal's name is Pan, regardless of the presence of a hyphen. However, non-Japanese speakers may confuse "Pankun" for the chimpanzee's given name. A quick visit to the Shimura Doubutsuen website confirms that, as expected, the chimp's given name is just Pan, an obvious reference to the chimpanzee's taxonomic genus.

I don't really have any stake in this article. I came across it when a friend of mine showed some interest in the Pan-kun segments of Shimura Doubutsuen and I was curious to see what English-language resources I could direct him towards. If the original author is adamant about keeping Pankun as the primary spelling and Pan-kun as the alternate spelling, whatever. If somebody from the staff of Shimura Doubutsuen has come forward and insisted upon the "Pankun" spelling, fine. But until proven otherwise, I would think that the most appropriate article i.d. would be "pan-kun" and not "pankun."

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinpachi-sensei, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okojo-san , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yodo-dono , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyoge!_Taiyaki-kun , et cetera for examples of Wikipedia precedent in employing the hyphenated suffix romanization instead of the non-hyphenated suffix romanization. (Or type in any Japanese title you wish, perhaps aided by a word like "Japan" or "Japanese" in the Wikipedia search bar and see for yourself.)

Origin of the name
Regarding the comment above about how the name comes from the taxonomic name for the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes): does that merit a place in the article, rather than just in the discussion? Nightrose (talk) 23:26, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Bonobo or Chimpanzee?
As far as I can observe, Pan-kun seems to be a Bonobo instead of a Common Chimpanzee (from his "hairstyle", proficiency on walking on two legs, high intelligence and curiosity). Is there any source concerning this? (This TV show is both entertaining and informative to someone who studies anthropology!) Chakazul (talk) 06:08, 3 July 2010 (UTC)