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Do you say "Burma" or "Myanmar"? There are many who deliberately use the former despite the latter being the official spelling in English. Indeed, by choosing
by eesmith 4y ago
Do you say "Burma" or "Myanmar"? There are many who deliberately use the former despite the latter being the official spelling in English.
Indeed, by choosing one or the other, you could be implicitly taking a position on that country's internal affairs .. even if you aren't aware of the issue.
Recently there's been a lot of support to use "Kyiv" instead of "Kiev".
Almost everyone now uses "Beijing" instead of "Peking", excepting a few cases.
"Bombay" or "Mumbai"? "Calcutta" or "Kolkata"? (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_renamed_places_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_renamed_places_in_Indi... .)
Do you refer to the city in New Mexico as "Hot Springs" or "Truth or Consequences"? (Or as "T or C")?
There's quite a few examples I could come up with, which means it's not that uncommon. And you see uptake depends on many factors.
- gtk40 4y agoBurma/Myanmar unfortunately has more scrutiny because it's a current political issue. Some see the new name as associated with the current military government. The US officially calls the country Burma (e.g., CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/burma/ https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/burma/ )
- wrp 4y agoThere was also Cambodia/Kampuchea, with the latter name associated with the Khmer Rouge regime.