# How not to name your city/country for Beginners **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 19, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047 "2005-04-19T13:57:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/21 "2005-04-19T18:41:35Z")
Burma! ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/22 "2005-04-19T18:45:24Z")
Uh oh… **Kythereia** ’s panicking again… ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/23 "2005-04-19T19:42:49Z")
I’ve heard Belize is nice, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/24 "2005-04-19T20:51:30Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > Burma! Yeah, but that country’s official name is now Myanmar. Maybe they’ve come to the same conclusion we have? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/25 "2005-04-19T20:57:27Z")
> [@wolfstu](#): > > Belgium Or, hey, all the Benelux countries. Now **there’s** a hotbed of economic instability and political revolt! Or how about Bergen County, New Jersey? Or Belgravia? Yeah. Places that start with B are always hotspots of trouble. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/26 "2005-04-19T21:02:53Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > Burma! Why’d you say “Burma!”? ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/27 "2005-04-19T21:11:52Z")
Reading Joe Cleary’s book _Literature, Partition and the Nation-State_ taught me one thing: **Do not partition any nation-state whose name begins with the letter I**. Not unless you want violence. Ireland, India, and Israel have probably learned this lesson by now. Hopefully it doesn’t happen in Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/28 "2005-04-19T21:21:38Z")
> [@Hamish](#): > > **Do not partition any nation-state whose name begins with the letter I**. > > Not unless you want violence. And refrain from using the letter M if you want to have a recognizable abbreviation. ME MH MD MA MI MN MS MO MTExtra credit for any (non USPS employee) who knows what the MH stands for ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/29 "2005-04-19T21:33:29Z")
OK, thought as an outsider, I’d see how I could do with the Ms: ME - Maine MH - Military something? MD - Maryland MA - Massachusetts MI - Mississippi MN - Michigan MS - ? MO - Missouri MT - Minnesota ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/30 "2005-04-19T21:35:46Z")
Bahhh, googled, and I got most of them wrong. And nope, I’d never _heard_ of ‘MH’. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/31 "2005-04-19T23:44:32Z")
[Bhopal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_Disaster) [Belgian Congo](http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss12/booknotes-King.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/32 "2005-04-19T23:48:43Z")
> [@wolfstu](#): > > … Burma, Burundi, Banja Luca, Bahrain, Banda Aceh, Bangalore, Bethlehem > > … Bangkok, Beijing, Bratislava, Bogota, Bangladesh > > … Britain, Bavaria, Belgium, Bahamas? “We didn’t start the fire; it’s been always burning…” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/33 "2005-04-20T00:32:36Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > Behold! Beautious babes, basking in bust baring bikinis on the Bermuda beach! > > 😃 Cite? And one with pictures too. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/34 "2005-04-20T00:58:21Z")
Don’t forget Bikini Atoll. They had some pretty serious “environmental problems” way back when. ---
**Author:** ![dangergene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@dangergene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangergene)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/35 "2005-04-20T01:08:40Z")
ah yes, but using the ‘official’ name _Myanmar_ is just hiding a larger problem! That problem, my fellow Dopers, is the hidden **B**! (actually large chunks of the western world don’t recognise [‘Myanmar’](http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bm.html) , but that’s a political sidetrack and not appropriate for this thread). ---
**Author:** ![furlibusea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@furlibusea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furlibusea)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/36 "2005-04-20T01:21:44Z")
ME Maine MH nfc MD Maryland MA Massachusetts MI Michigan MN Minnesota MS Mississippi MO Missouri MT Montana ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/37 "2005-04-20T01:54:26Z")
What about New Brunswick? That’s certainly a hotbed of sedition! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047/38 "2005-04-20T02:11:23Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > What about New Brunswick? That’s certainly a hotbed of sedition! 😉 No, no, the “New” part absorbs the evil of the B. I’d have a closer look at Baltimore, if I were you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-not-to-name-your-city-country-for-beginners/300047.md?page=1)