5/12 Why is everyone calling it Myanmar? Wasn't that the name given Burma
by the same military junta that's not letting aid in now?
\_ yes.
\_ They aren't. You still see news orginizations calling it Burma all
the time.
\_ Some are some aren't, some are calling it both. If a thuggish
govt. changes the name of a country, should be always continue to
call it by the old name? That seems like an odd policy.
\_ Myanmar is also one of the old names for the region in the
native tongue, according to a knowledgable friend.
\_ Wikipedia weighs in: "Within the Burmese language, Myanmar is
the written, literary name of the country, while Bama or Bamar
(from which "Burma" derives) is the oral, colloquial name. In
spoken Burmese, the distinction is less clear than the English
transliteration suggests."
\_ Calling it Burma strikes terror into the hearts of dictators
everywhere! They'll be a fully democratic country in a matter of
days!
\_ Why worry what Burma wants to be called in English? English has
English-specific names for loads of cities and places, as do
foreign languages for other places. If it was some kind of
insulting name then maybe, but Rangoon vs. Yangon or whatever,
nobody should pay attention to the junta. |
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