# Iran/Persia, Thailand/Siam

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-persia-thailand-siam/837121>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 15, 2019, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-persia-thailand-siam/837121 "2019-07-15T10:04:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-persia-thailand-siam/837121/41 "2019-07-18T19:12:21Z")

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> [@Colibri](#):
>
> I wouldn’t say Zaire was “made up.” It had a long historical use but was a Portuguese corruption of the Kongo word _nzere/nzadi_. Congo was more authentically African but was rejected by Mbutu because it had been the colonial name. Zaire in turn was rejected because it had been imposed by Mbutu. At least it served to distinguish it more easily from the neighboring Republic of the Congo.
> 
> Among my prized possessions are two one-million zaire bills featuring Mobutu that I got on a visit in 1993. At the time one such note would buy you a small beer. (Colibri’s Law of Beer Economics: when you need to be a millionaire to buy a beer, your country is in trouble.)

I’m not normally a fan of changing the name of a city or country for authentication reasons, but probably changing Léopoldville to Kinshasa was for the best.

I had a couple million in old Turkish lira as a kid. I also remember Zimbabwe dollars selling for many times the exchange rate on eBay, so even bad currency has value as a novelty.

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