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I can’t imagine getting upset if someone wants to call my country États-Unis or 米国. Only Turks want to tell me how to speak my own language.
by labster 2y ago
I can’t imagine getting upset if someone wants to call my country États-Unis or 米国. Only Turks want to tell me how to speak my own language.
- FredPret 2y agoAnd Burmese / Myanmarians. Names are always bestowed, never picked.
- jltsiren 2y agoGeorgians don't seem to like either if you call their country Gruzia. And Greeks didn't like it when their neighbors wanted to be Macedonians. Names often have historical baggage, and using them may send a different message than what you intended.
- FredPret 2y agoAn interesting one is Germany. Different people call them Allemagne, Tyksland, Saksamaa, Německo, Germany, and many more; of course none of these people ever went to Germany and asked them nicely what they'd like to be called.
- guenthert 2y agoI think Tyskland is pretty close, particularly given how neighboring folks actually speak there. Allemange has reasons in history as does Germany. I suppose the others can easily explained likewise. Really, it could be much worse.
- FredPret 2y ago> Really, it could be much worse. These are the official names for Germany. It does get worse! My broader point is you can call yourself whatever you want, but you cannot tell others how to speak if they don’t agree.
- gopher_space 2y agoalt.skopje.is.not.macedonia popped into my head but I'm realizing I never read any of those posts.
- lxgr 2y agoYou're assuming that every Turk supports this decision. I'm not sure if that's in fact the case. But if it is: People generally do get to change their mind about their preferred address, and people usually oblige, so why not places? It obviously depends a lot on the case, but sometimes the “common” name has a historical association people living there aren’t comfortable with, for example.
- lmm 2y ago> I can’t imagine getting upset if someone wants to call my country États-Unis or 米国. In an international context? I remember Côte d'Ivoire asking people to please refer to them as Côte d'Ivoire for what seemed the very sensible, practical reason that their citizens were having trouble finding their country in lists when going through customs, registering at hotels etc.
- FartinMowler 2y ago米 ... lol, reminds me of a Kurt Vonnegut novel that included his rendering of a human orifice.