# Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/istanbul-not-constantinople/364286>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 13, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/istanbul-not-constantinople/364286 "2006-07-13T03:09:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/istanbul-not-constantinople/364286/21 "2006-07-13T16:03:39Z")

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A quickie wiki (so to speak) reveals the song dates back to [1953](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_Not_Constantinople). Huh, I’d’ve thought the original would’ve dated a few decades earlier. I wonder what prompted those guys to write it …

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/istanbul-not-constantinople/364286/22 "2006-07-14T12:52:07Z")

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> [@Ponder Stibbons](#):
>
> A quickie wiki (so to speak) reveals the song dates back to [1953](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_Not_Constantinople). Huh, I’d’ve thought the original would’ve dated a few decades earlier. I wonder what prompted those guys to write it …

The tune is based on Irving Berlin’s _Puttin’ On the Ritz_ (1929).

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**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/istanbul-not-constantinople/364286/23 "2006-07-14T16:35:23Z")

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Or perhaps _Puttin’ on the Ritz_ is based on this song, and that’s why they waited so long to publish it: wading through a morass of Byzantine intellectual property laws…

Oh… and um… here’s a [link](http://www.sephardicstudies.org/istanbul.html) about the history of the name. A lot of the information seems to have become muddied in the sands of time, but this fellow appears to have gone the whole nine yards. Anyway, what appears certain is that in 1930 the name was officially changed to Istanbul by the new Turkish emporer. Atatürk.

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**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/istanbul-not-constantinople/364286/24 "2006-07-14T16:40:07Z")

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If you’ve got a girl in Constantinople-- she ain’t there.

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**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/istanbul-not-constantinople/364286/25 "2006-07-14T22:37:43Z")

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> [@outlierrn](#):
>
> why DID Constantinople get the works?

Give it back, you Cyprus-splitting bastards!

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