Re: Myanmar (formerly Burma)

Mary wrote:

> Don K wrote:
>> "NadCixelsyd" <nadcixelsyd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>>
news:5b3d79d8-51ad-40e6-8f26-6ab6817e9e1f@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> Why does every mention of Myanmar on radio/TV have to add "formerly
>>> Burma" to the text.  Does anyone say, "formerly British Honduras" or
>>> "formerly Ceylon" or "formerly Hot Springs, New Mexico"?  Does the
>>> stewardess say, "Welcome to New York (formerly New Amsterdam) Kennedy
>>> air****t, formerly, Idlewild"?
>>>
>>> Anyone that, by now, doesn't know Myanmar's former name probably
>>> doesn't care.
>> 
>> If they hadn't told me Myanmar was formerly Burma, I'd have thought it
>> was a sandwich spread.
>> 
>> That sort of thing is necessary whenever some yoyo seizes control of a
>> country and changes the name without telling anyone.
>> 
>> Don
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> Meaning what, that the local yoyos should keep on using whatever name
> the British Raj stuck the country with?
> 
> Was the country known as Burma to the inhabitants themselves prior to
> British rule?
 
Even today, you get your choice:

<q CIA Factbook>

conventional long form: Union of Burma

conventional short form: Burma

local long form: Pyidaungzu Myanma Naingngandaw (translated by the US
Government as Union of Myanma and by the Burmese as Union of Myanmar)

local short form: Myanma Naingngandaw

former: Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma

note: since 1989 the military authorities in Burma have promoted the name
Myanmar as a conventional name for their state; this decision was not
approved by any sitting legislature in Burma, and the US Government did
not adopt the name, which is a derivative of the Burmese short-form name
Myanma Naingngandaw

</q>


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