In an article in this week’s US News & World Report, they make numerous references to the “Burmese border” (of China).
It’s my understanding that the country once known as Burma is now called Myanmar.
Has this name-change not been universally accepted/recognized? Or is it just a slip-up at the magazine?
Inside Burma it’s called Myanmar but outside Burma it’s sometimes still called Burma. I don’t think all countries have adjusted to the name change yet… but it’s really a typo since the Myanmar Govt. gets to decide what it’s country is called… not some newspaper or magazine.
I believe that the new name hasn’t received general acceptance due to the nature of the regime that made the decision to change it.
Otherwise, there are other examples of official names not being universally used such as the Ivory Coast which is now (officially) only to be referred to as Côte d’Ivoire (in every language, not just French!) Or (The) Ukraine’s insistance that the article “The” not be used, i.e. just “Ukraine”.
It’s also, I think, a question of familiarity among readers. More people are going to understand “Burmese” than “Myammarese”
[full nitpick mode]
You can argue it’s a mistake to refer to Myanmar as ‘Burma’, but it’s certainly not a typo (typographical error) unless the typist meant to type ‘Myanmar’ but accidently typed ‘Burma’, which seems rather unlikely.
[/full nitpick mode]
Perhaps one of our East Asian Dopers can shed some light on this, but I was under the impression that Myanmar was the correct name for the nation in the Burmese language. Kind of like Finland is Suomi in Finnish, or Hungary is Magyarnocz (?) in Hungarian.
That’s Magyarország.
Maybe the Burmese name for Burma would have received wider international acceptance if the junta hadn’t deliberately misspelled it.
Strange but true fact: There is no r in the name. In fact, the Burmese language now completely lacks the /r/ sound altogether. The Burmese letter that used to be r is now pronounced y, due to a sound shift (that’s why Rangoon is called “Yangon” by the Burmese).
Burma and Myanma® both come from the same original name. It’s really Myanma, no r at all. The junta added the pleonastic -r because they’d been brought up during the colonial period with a British education and taught non-rhotic English (i.e. write the r but don’t pronounce it). “Hahvad Yahd” is also non-rhotic. Their orthographic blunder results in Latin American announcers strongly rrrolling that nonexistent -r in “Myanmar.”
Just one of my linguistic peeves, from a rhotic American.
The junta can kiss my ass. They can call their country whatever they want but do not decide what is correct in English. English has a name for that place and the name is Burma, just as it has names for most other places which are different from the local language. That is why it is a different language, because it calls things and places by different names. And do the Burmese call other countries by their native names? I bet not. In English we say China, Japan, Thailand, Italy, Germany, Spain, Morocco, etc, none of which are the names the natives use. Why are we going to let the junta tell us how to speak English?
Mad dogs and Englishmen
go out in the midday Sun;
The toughest Burmese bandit
can never understand it,
in Rangoon the heat of noon
is just what the natives shun,
they put their satchel down
and lie down;
In the mangrove swamps
where the python romps
there is peace from twelve 'til two;
even caribous lie around and snooze
'cause there’s nothing else to do;
In Bengal, to move at all,
is seldom if ever done
But mad dogs and Englishmen
go out in the midday Sun
Noel Coward (Who never heard of Myanmar)
Really, it’s kind of like the stadium situation in Denver–the name is in the eye of the beholder. The Broncos sold the naming rights, and calls their new stadium, “Invesco Field at Mile High”, but the Denver Post doesn’t refer to it as such, because they don’t feel like giving a free ad to Invesco.
They’d rename Myanmar/Burma “Microsoft Windows” if Bill Gates were willing to pay enough.
“You may call it Myanmar, but it will always be Burma to me” - J. Peterman
It depends on the paper for example most switched immediately when Zaire changed back to Congo or The Congo. So why not Myanmar.
The Chinese said they wouldn’t deliver mail addressed to Peking, it must be Bejing. Same for thier other cities.
We had Siam now Thailand, Upper Volta now Bourkina Faso(sp?), Persia now Iran, Siagon now Ho Chi Min City(Sp?) and so on.
I would like to see how US News… covers those names. If they use them it is probably an editorial policy. Like when the Times refused to use GAY and kept using Homosexual.
>> The Chinese said they wouldn’t deliver mail addressed to Peking, it must be Bejing. Same for thier other cities
Is that so? Could you tell me where you got that information? It’s news to me and quite contrary to my experience.