What are we supposed to call you now?

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Ok, so I've been hearing bits and pieces on the radio that countries and cities are changing their names. The only new name I've heard is that Bombay is now "Mum-bi" or something like that. Apparently, Hong Kong isn't Hong Kong anymore...and there was a few other name changes, but I wasn't able to hear them.

So, what are we supposed to call these places now, and how is the proper way pronouncing the name?

 

Screw them, it's Hong Kong. I'm not learning any new names commies invent. And Bombay is Bombay, although those are no commies. Maybe what you heard were names of different cities? I'm at least sure there are names similar to Bombay and that there's some kind of Mumbay or however you write that.

 

No, the place that you are calling Bombay is really called Mumbai. All cricket fans know that. But if you have a funny accent, it will sound the same anyway.

 

@ Kitrax
Where did you hear this. I am unfamiliar with any new name changes to cities or countries. In my line of work I get that kind of news a lot.

 

Sri Lanka is Ceylon.

I'm old. I'm not changing my ways. It's Bombay or the highway.

 

Siam is now Thailand
Ceylon is now Sri Lanka
Peking is now Beijing
Bombay is now Mumbai (Kitrax / Chevalier / Kuemper - this happened in 1995 so is not really news)
Burma is now Myanmar
Upper Volta is now Burkina Faso
Hong Kong is now The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
Madras is now Chennai
Calcutta is now Kolkata
Cape Kennedy is now Cape Canaveral
Saigon is now Ho Chi Minh City
New Hebrides are now Vanuatu
Persia is now Iran
Zaire is now Democratic Republic of the Congo

The list is almost endless.

 

Part of the Northwest Territories (in Canada) is now called Nunavut.

There's also something up between Kampuchea and Cambodia I recall.

 

Geez...how do they expect people to remember the new name for Hong Kong!? Never knew they changed the name...

 

Mt Egmont (in New Zealand) is now Mt Taranaki

 

Obviously by the anagram it makes -
THKSARPRC

 

doesn't really matter since it's still got "Hong Kong" in it, people will still refer to it as such and still be understood. I mean, nobody goes around saying The United States of America all the time. You say the "U.S" or the "U.S.A" or "the states" and people still know what you're talking about.

 

It all makes sense now! Just as well that one rolls off the tongue.

 

We use both Irish and English names for our major cities. What confuses tourists is they take the 'Baile Átha Cliath' bus from Belfast, which is Irish for Dublin.

And if anyone is interested, Baile Átha Cliath translates to 'Town of the Ford of the Reed Hurdles'.

 

At least those are cities names that for some reason change their name for the rest of the world; I've been in Spain for about 2 years and everyday I found some new ways for calling almost everything, for example Hezbolah > Gizbula; is like they put the name for the way the word sounds in their language.
I keep telling that is dumb, because they don't write Jarri (the way Harry sounds) but for some reason people think that is valid for some words/names and for others not.

 

To expand on HB's list, don't forget that the crown colonies are now called the United States of America.

Geez, people, get your heads out of your harddrives and keep up with the news.

 

Well, I tried. But I couldn't find any information about the war in Canaan...

 

New Amsterdam is now City of New York (that is its official name).

 

This is mainly for the archaic language users (Chev )

Eburacum is now York
Londinium Augusta is now simply London
Venta Belgarum is now Winchester
Duroaverno Cantiacorum is still that in the Vatican records but we all call it Canterbury
Deva Victrix is Chester
Concangis (for all cricket fans) is now Chester-le-street

 

Well new names have a tendency of catching on eventually when officially changed, though there will allways remain those who prefer the old name but they often have some political/religious/ethnic reason to call it different. Many Greeks still call Istanbul Constantinople (I'm not sure how it's officially taught in Greek schools) but rest of the world recognize the city by its Turkish name. In any case I'm sure the new names will eventually become mainstream, allthough it might take a generation or two (Hong Kong will be probably called Hong Kong though since the new name is way too complicated) and only a small minority will be left behind to remember and stick to the old names.