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Harihari residents upset at a new billboard say they will paint over it if the name of their township is not written as two words.
Harihari is officially gazetted as one word, and in Maori it is also one word. The meaning of the name has been lost.
However, some residents have had a University of Canterbury expert look into the contentious matter and they remain convinced it should be two words.
The new Land Transport New Zealand (LTNZ) signs are meant to slow motorists down and have the slogan "What's the hurry hurry, Harihari?"
But Lindsay Molloy was today phoning LTNZ asking them to re-write it as two words before putting up the billboard.
"If it goes up as two words we will paint over it," he said.
Mr Molloy said the township was due to celebrate its centennial in 2008. It officially became a district when the post office opened. The oldest record of the name as Hari Hari is from 1913, although he has no idea when it first appeared as Harihari.
Mr Molloy said he thought it became one word after a typist's error, a mistake that had since been repeated through the years.
LTNZ was unavailable for comment today, but a spokesman last week said the Harihari billboard was one of 16 to go up around New Zealand.
Reefton residents appear happier with their sign -- "Revive Yourself in Reefton".
- NZPA
