I don’t know about you, but am I the only one who feels like I wasn’t told about all these name changes taking place in cities around the world?! Everytime I mention a major city in the world by name, I hesitate wondering if during the night someone didn’t come up with a new name and I’m completely out of touch! I’ll be honest, it took me awhile to get use to calling Peking - Beijing, or Leningrad - Saint Petersburg.
Most recently when I first heard about the terrorist attacks that took place in India, I asked myself, where is Mumbai? I was on the phone with Patrick and asked him. “I don’t know,” he said, “maybe you should look it up on the internet.” So I did, and found out it was Bombay! That shows how much I keep up with what’s going on in India! My first reaction was, why didn’t they just say Bombay?!
My mom happened to call right then and after a few minutes we got to talking about the news in India. My mom said, “By the way, where is Mumbai?”
“It’s Bombay.” I replied, as though I knew that all along!
“Bombay!” my mom said. “Why didn’t they just say so instead of all this mumbo jumbo!”
“My sentiments exactly, Mom!”
So should all of us become politically correct and pronounce a city the way that it’s pronounced by the natives? Why not?! I don’t mind calling Venice - Venezia, or Florence - Firenze. I love the way the names sounds in Italian anyway; Roma, Turino, Milano, Napoli….. The Italians, however, would have to stop calling Paris - Parigi or the French calling London - Londres. What about the Mexicans calling New York - Nueva York, do we go back to calling New York - New Amsterdam? At least my ears won’t hurt when I visit family in Pittsburgh and you hear people calling Versailles, Pa. - Ver sales, or DuBois, Pa. - Do Boys!
Maya Muses: Maybe I should just be happy when people call me Lynn instead of Line (Lean) in France, or Lina (Leana) in Spain!
Photo Credits: Flickr
2 responses so far ↓
1 Mia // Nov 30, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I knew about Mumbai - Bombay,think it was Ulf who told me…but I did ask him the same question as you did!
I am called Mia or Mimmi…
Mia; is a name I started to use when I did not feel like Mimmi anymore…
But only my new friends knows me as Mia…
My family still see me as Mimmi…
But the thing is, they don’t think I act as Mimmi anymore…
My real name is Marie-Louise…Never felt comfortable with that name,so I never use it unless I have to…
Name is fascinating…You actually feel and act differently when you use different names…
Have you tried it?
Maybe it is the same with city names?
A lot of history sticks to certain names…
So.What’s In A Name?A lot,I think!
There is a whole lot more….
2 Lynn // Nov 30, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Mia, I know exactly what you mean! Lynn is the name I go by, but it is not my given first name. Actually I have 6 names including my last name! When I write to different people, I sign different names by what they call me. For example, my aunts calls me Belinda, some cousins calls me Tamar, other family members call me Lindy, or the younger kids call me Linnie, but that’s just a variation of Lynn.
I agree that there are different vibrations with different names, which brings a certain vibration to a city. I have an interesting book called “The Hidden Truth of Your Name”. Even though Lynn is not my first name, most people call me Lynn and that’s the name I go by and interestingly enough, that’s the name that comes the closest to how I am in the book.
I looked up Mia and Mimmi, they weren’t there, but they fall under Mary. Marie is there; so is Maria (Which is one of my names!) I thought they would be the same, but they’re not. There are things in both names that fit well and things that don’t. Could it be because although we don’t use those names much, they are still a part of who we are?! Interesting!
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