Actually it would. Lots of countries change their name, it's kind of baffling that this site seems to have an official position against accepting the name change of Myanmar... I mean, yes, it was changed by the junta in power. How does that make it different than every single other country on Earth?
It would change it. Big shame certain sites and governments seem to have issues with calling things a certain way. Its been myanmar for quite a long time now and should be called that, whether we like it or not. Its not our country
Actually, that would change it. For example, the Ivory Coast is not the name of a country. The nation of Cote d'Ivoire actively discourages using that name and has declared by law that it is not right. Therefore, the name of the country is Cote d'Ivoire, not Ivory Coast.
For what it's worth: I worked for a time on the Thai-Burma border for groups opposing the government. For the last few years, I have also worked with members of the Karen community in Canada, virtually none of whom are politically active but all of whom oppose the Burmese government. In both cases, I've never heard anyone refer to the country from which they come as "Myanmar." The people I've known don't represent everyone. For them, it's a political choice, for sure.
Mostly the generations born before name switch refer to it as "Burma" within the country. The name will likely eventually become obsolete. Kind of makes sense, as to me it appears as another example of decolonization, similar to Ceylon becoming Sri Lanka. I realize that a military junta changed the name, but I any type of government could have done the same, at least eventually.
And the Czech Republic changed its official name a couple years ago to Czechia. That should change some things, but it still appears as "Czech Republic" in an awful lot of places.
There are people in the US that don't recognize the US government as legitimate, that it is a corporation, and that every president since Grant has been illegitimate. That doesn't mean that the US government is in fact illegitimate. The government in Myanmar is the one in power, so they get to select what the name of the country is.
@FolgoreCZ wasn't it just to have a short name for the country because it was one of the few countries not to have one? (e.g. Russia for Russian Federation, Canada for Dominion of Canada, etc.)
Yeah quit arguing LukeD is right. And who said the names had to be official? In other quizzes UK is accepted for United Kingdom, because it is known by both names.
That's not really a relevant example, beastloader, given the UK is just an abbreviation of United Kingdom. It would more be like accepting Great Britain, although that isn't correct given it doesn't include Northern Ireland.
Here's my take on it: Burma was pretty much the British colonial name. Myanmar is recognized as the official name by Wikipedia and the EU. The National Geographic map on the wall says "Myanmar". People just don't like to call it Myanmar because the name is "against democracy". Okay, so during the Cold War we don't call it the USSR, since it's against democracy? It just doesn't make sense. Last time I checked, one Parliament member cannot singlehandedly rename a country.
Persia(n Empire) was much larger than Iran though.
Around half of Hispaniola is the Dominican Republic so you'd be wrong to refer to Haiti that way.
The people living on the Falklands, whether you think it is an outdated piece of British colonialism or not, are overwhelmingly happy to remain as they are, rather than become the Malvinas under the administration of Argentina.
DudiJG, I had to study the Dominican Republic and it actually is majority of the island. Haiti is the other half, and collectively the island is called Hispaniola.
I believe the name Constantinople was removed by the Ottomans. In any case, that's not the name of the city. A certain song by They Might Be Giants comes to mind...
I vote we bring back Upper Volta for Burkina Faso, the Gilbert Islands for Kiribati, Dahomey for Benin, Ceylon for Sri Lanka, Siam for Thailand, Ellice Islands for Tuvalu, and Abyssinia for Ethiopia. They all changed their names at some point.
As others have said, it is most likely due to the US not recognising the change of name. Our Quizmaster agrees with that opinion, so this site still uses Burma. If more Burmese people agreed with the change, rather than the ones with guns, I'm sure their standing among nations would change and Myanmar would be a more universally-accepted term.
Actually the people of Myanmar/Burma are split between the name, with the younger generations more in favour of the name "Myanmar", while the older generations generally are more likely to call it "Burma". However, as the name changed close to 30 years ago, Myanmar is more widely in use now, (and not just by the people with guns, unless they make up slightly more than half the total countries population).
The Myanmar comment in the tagline confused me- I thought you were saying you wouldn't count "Myanmar" (or alternate name) as a "B" country so don't bother arguing. I put it anyway so no complaints.
Yeah I tried Bermuda and then of course forgot all about Barbados. There's 2 of those B-island-countries somewhere around there. One is Bahamas and the other one is .. :)
All this talk about Burma versus Myanmar was irritating me, so I did some research into it. Burma refers to the largest ethnic group in the country, and is the written or literary name of the country. In languages like Burmese they have different versions of words for when they are written and when they are spoken. Myanmar is the spoken variant of the country's name. The official name of the country was the "Union of Burma" until 1989, but has since been changed to the "Union of Myanmar" and is now the "Republic of the Union of Myanmar." Myanmar was chosen as its official name to avoid singling out the minority ethnic groups of the country. Myanmar is its official name. Burma is accepted as a variant of the name. All this being said, if it were I would include Burma in the B quiz and Myanmar in the M quiz to avoid the dispute. :D
Aesthus, Historical claim and control of the region are completely conflicting. Burma's government has historical claim to name the country, no? Because historically they have been in charge, however the vicious military regime has control of the area, so who gets to name it? Pick one or the other man, you can't have both.
Real tangible control overrides historicity, but there are cases where clear tangible control is a hotly debated topic (such as whether Palestine controls their claimed territories) and this is where historicity becomes important. Hence, Myanmar, but also hence, no Palestine.
I usually look at the comments in quizzes but i may start to not. BECAUSE ANYONE THAT EVER COMMENTS, COMMENTS ABOUT SOME STUPID ARGUMENT THAT DOESN'T PARTICULARLY MATTER!
I forgot 3 of them and I am glad that this comment has nothing to do with the Burma/Myanmar discussion because I don't care which one you use as long as you accept both of them.
And Gambia is The Gambia, Bolivia is the Plurinational State of Bolivia, and South Africa is the Republic of South Africa. Gambia is sorted under 'G' not 'T', Bolivia is 'B' not 'P', and South Africa is 'S' not 'R', although they are RSA for FIFA and IOC usage.
Myanmar or Burma.....Myanmar was imposed by the military against the wishes of the population in 1989. They changed the names of lots of towns too, to get rid of the old colonial past. Opposing parties and most older locals still use Burma. Both names come from the local tribes that were found there, and its been called Birma and Barma over the years. Aung San Suu Kyi says either is ok as there isnt anything in the countries constitution that says what the countries name actually is.
I guess she should know better than most.
Lots of countries changed the names of places, Kolkotta, Mumbai are just a couple, but they were basically using the local language version of the "English" name.. we all know that loosely speaking, Holland means The Netherlands...
it's one of those awkward ones that i wouldnt use in a vocal pub quiz, and in a thing like this, filling in the space (as Quizmaster has done) should stop people trying to look for an answer that isnt there
It should be THE Bahamas. Also with THE Gambia. Maybe put them in T? (Sorry if you get notifications and this is a copy notification of the other comment in G’s XD)
I got hung up on the fact that when I do quizzes that include Antigua and Barbuda, I usually type Barbuda (because I remember to add it when I'm adding Barbados) and it counts. So, I kept typing it thinking that I spelled it wrong. Then I ran out of time before getting Belarus. SMH.
I am a pro 😎 I got full marks with 1:54 time left while I knew that Burma is Myanmar thanks to God that I know this so don't argue that Burma is a country because it is not and someone takes so much time to make a quiz don't insult him even if he is not seeing because I also made many quizez so please do not argue there is written no vulgar language we should be thanks to the quiz maker to take some time to make a such a good quiz. I hope you understand what am I saying
Me: trying to remember Burkina-Faso as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Also me: Get's that one song with every country in the world (not Yakko's world, Yakko's world is all the nations) stuck in my head so I remember them anyway.
Around half of Hispaniola is the Dominican Republic so you'd be wrong to refer to Haiti that way.
The people living on the Falklands, whether you think it is an outdated piece of British colonialism or not, are overwhelmingly happy to remain as they are, rather than become the Malvinas under the administration of Argentina.
I am a mere Yr7 student, yet even i know that.
I still use most of those names, as well as Constantinople.
Both it's official and common names include Myanmar, and neither include Burma
B o t s w a n a
I guess she should know better than most.
Lots of countries changed the names of places, Kolkotta, Mumbai are just a couple, but they were basically using the local language version of the "English" name.. we all know that loosely speaking, Holland means The Netherlands...
it's one of those awkward ones that i wouldnt use in a vocal pub quiz, and in a thing like this, filling in the space (as Quizmaster has done) should stop people trying to look for an answer that isnt there
I've done that way more times than I want to admit.
Bhina, Bindia, Bapan, Buk, Bain
my fren is from bosnia AAAAAAAAAAA
she gon' kill me
Scoring
You scored 3/17 = 18%
This beats or equals 5.1% of test takers
The average score is 11
Your high score is 3
Scoring
You scored 3/17 = 18%
This beats or equals 5.1% of test takers
The average score is 11
Your high score is 3
*facepalm*
You scored 17/17 = 100%
11.1% of test takers also scored 100%
The average score is 11
Your high score is 17
Your fastest time is 1:24
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nOice
Also me: Get's that one song with every country in the world (not Yakko's world, Yakko's world is all the nations) stuck in my head so I remember them anyway.