Re: Myanmar (formerly Burma)

Don K wrote:
> "Mary" <mrfeathers@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:QrGVj.159584$yE1.64824@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> 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?
> 
> No, meaning what I said.
>> Was the country known as Burma to the inhabitants themselves prior to
British rule?
> 
> Within the Burmese language, Myanmar is the written, literary name of
the country,
> while Bama or Bamar (from which "Burma" derives) is the oral, colloquial
name.
> In spoken Burmese, the distinction is less clear than the English
transliteration suggests
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma#cite_note-CIA-1
> 
> To me, it sounds like six of one, half-dozen of the other.


Evidently.  I was just struck by your use of the term "local yoyo" - I 
mean, who ELSE should be deciding what the country was called?

Mary