Althouse: Burma.

September 27, 2007

Burma.

Not Myanmar.

15 comments:

Chip Ahoy said...: Very well, that settles it. For now on it's Burma.

By the way I'm still a bit conflicted on Siam. I have a Siamese fighting fish but like pad Thai.; 9/27/07, 8:02 AM
AllenS said...: Candidate says
Campaign
Confusing
Babies kiss me
Since I've been using
Burma-Shave; 9/27/07, 8:03 AM
AllenS said...: Sorry, I was just driving along a road called Political Nonsense.; 9/27/07, 8:05 AM
Bissage said...: Cat breeds are the best predictor.

It was always a Burmese cat and never a Myanmarian cat. It was always a Russian Blue cat and never a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Blue cat.

Oddly enough, there is such a thing as a Siamese Thai cat. LINK.

But a quick spin on teh Googles shows there’s no such thing as an Iranian cat, only a Persian cat, so . . .

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, . . .; 9/27/07, 8:25 AM
Unknown said...: Uh oh, I see a lefty ad hominem dilemma coming!; 9/27/07, 8:44 AM
Palladian said...: "Penguins don't come from next door, they come from the Antarctic."

"Burma!"

"Why did you say Burma?"

"I panicked."; 9/27/07, 9:08 AM
KCFleming said...: Even if it is Burma, Bush is still a mush-mouthed idiot whenever he says 'Burma'. Did I get it right?; 9/27/07, 9:24 AM
Unknown said...: Navigated that pretty well, I'd say.; 9/27/07, 9:57 AM
Simon said...: I agree with Fallows, although I dissent on the implicit suggestion that I still wouldn't prononce it flibblewibble instead of Burma (or Mumbai instead of Bombay, or Kolkata instead of Calcutta) even if it was "being culturally respectful to the people of a beautiful but oppressed nation." As Fallows correctly notes, "[w]e don't call China Zhongguo or Germany Deutschland just because the locals do."; 9/27/07, 10:58 AM
Trooper York said...: licorice tattoo turned a gun metal blue scrawled across the shoulders
of a dying town the one eyed jacks across the railroad tracks
and the scar on its belly pulled a stranger passing through
he was a juvenile delinquent never learned how to behave
but the cops would never think to look in
burma shave

and the road was like a ribbon and the moon was like a bone
he didn't seem to be like any guy she'd ever known
he kinda looked like farley granger with his hair slicked back
she says i'm a sucker for a fella in a cowboy hat
how far are you going he said depends on what you mean
he says i'm going thataway just as long as it's paved
i guess you'd say i'm on my way to
burma shave

and her knees up on the glove compartment
took out her barrettes and her hair spilled out like rootbeer
and she popped her gum and arched her back
hell marysville ain't nothing but a wide spot in the road
some night my heart pounds just like thunder
i don't know why it don't explode
cause everyone in this stinking town has got one foot in the grave
and i'd rather take my chances out in
burma shave

presley's what i go by why don't you change the station
count the grain elevators in the rearview mirror
mister anywhere you point this thing
has got to beat the hell out of the sting
of going to bed with every dream that dies here every mornin
and so drill me a hole with a barber pole
i'm jumping my parole just like a fugitive tonight
why don't you have another swig
and pass that car if you're so brave
i wanna get there before the sun comes up in
burma shave

and the spider web crack and the mustang screamed
smoke from the tires and the twisted machine
just a nickel's worth of dreams and every wishbone that they saved
lie swindled from them on the way to
burma shave

and the sun hit the derrick and cast a bat wing shadow
up against the car door on the shot gun side
and when they pulled her from the wreck you know she
still had on her shades
they say that dreams are growing wild just this side of
burma shave
(Tom Waits); 9/27/07, 11:28 AM
MadisonMan said...: This trend to say it like the locals is something I blame on Dan Rather -- seriously! Way back when he reported from Kabul (ca-BOOL), but he pronounced is as Cobble, like the natives do, I guess. And all of a sudden, we're saying cities like the natives do. Unless it's in Europe.; 9/27/07, 11:52 AM
rhhardin said...: Peking is behind the trouble.; 9/27/07, 12:15 PM
Unknown said...: If anyone hasn't read the Wikipedia link on the subject I encourage it. Obviously I can't vouch for its factual accuracy but it seems credible. Honestly I am fascinated by the amount of effort being put into this by all parties.; 9/27/07, 12:41 PM
Brad V said...: "You most likely know it as Myanmar, but it will always be Burma to me."
-J. Peterman; 9/27/07, 1:05 PM
Jeremy said...: I think there was an SNL skit once about white news anchors working out terrible accents when saying the Latin/South American country and city names. Good stuff.

"Civil unrest continues is Cohlambia today..."; 9/27/07, 5:11 PM