Czechs to change their name?

[Borachio]

They do indeed.

Douvres, Londres, Edimbourg. To name but three.

Isles Normandes. Las Malvinas. New Amsterdam.

 

[Traitorfish]

No. But why don't you say 'Nederlander' instead of 'Dutch', 'Suomi' instead of 'Finland', etc. etc. Every country has exonyms!

In both those cases, the English and indigenous name are interchangeable. But in this case, "Holland" refers to both the country and the region within the country. It's the difference between referring to Germany as "Germany", "Allemande" or "Tyskland" rather than "Deutschland", and referring to it as "Prussia".

 

[Takhisis]

People use 'Suomi' in English?

Edimbourg.

cofcofduneideanncofcof

 

[Traitorfish]

People use 'Suomi' in English?

Aren't "Suomi" and "Finland" directly equivalent?

 

[Tahuti]

In both those cases, the English and indigenous name are interchangeable. But in this case, "Holland" refers to both the country and the region within the country. It's the difference between referring to Germany as "Germany", "Allemande" or "Tyskland" rather than "Deutschland", and referring to it as "Prussia".

On the other hand - if I'm not mistaken - the Finnish translation of Germany means both Germany and Saxony.

 

[Takhisis]

'Saksa'. And HellSweden is 'Ruotsi', etc. and no one complains.

 

[Traitorfish]

Finnish isn't exactly a world language on the scale of Spanish or English, though, so you can see why people might overlook it.

 

[Takhisis]

And yet in English and Spanish we have a lot of exonyms people never really complain about…

 

[Traitorfish]

The issue is ambiguity, surely, not literalness of translation?

 

[Takhisis]

We'd better end this as the thread's supposed to be about Cheques, Cezchs or however you want to spell it, but the ambiguity can be resolved easily in Spanish, just like you can say 'Finland' and 'Finland proper', to continue with the Finnish example.

 

[bhsup]

I just noticed all of the poll options. Had Downtownia won, would Slovokia have suddenly become the uptown girl of Europe?

 

[Phrossack]

I have to agree with earlier posters that the Czech Republic should get the name of some Greek region/province, perhaps the Republic of Moravia and Morea. It would be so funny/depressing/annoying to see the Greek nationalist reaction to that.

 

[Traitorfish]

For maximum effect, let's start calling it "Greece", and then start referring to Greece as "West Turkey".

 

[Phrossack]

For maximum effect, let's start calling it "Greece", and then start referring to Greece as "West Turkey".

I prefer "The Former Ottoman Eyalets of Yunanistan", myself. FOEY. It's only fair.

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

This is not a game. You cant just worldbuilder Greece in central Europe. And certainly you cant delete huge influence of Greece on formation of Europe and modern civilazation...

 

[Traitorfish]

Of course not. Greece is in Eastern Europe, which is in North Africa, right across the sea from FOEYia. We're not stupid.

 

[bhsup]

For maximum effect, let's start calling it "Greece", and then start referring to Greece as "West Turkey".

Have I ever told you that you are the wind beneath my wings??

 

[Dachs]

For maximum effect, let's start calling it "Greece", and then start referring to Greece as "West Turkey".

You know, it's been two millennia since we could refer to the Checks as greasers. But now they'll be from Grease itself! Perfect.

 

[Kyriakos]

Νίψον ανομήματα μη μόναν όψιν.

Ancient palindromes were consciously made to work both ways. Unlike some here with their monotone swing.

 

[Winner]

You guys are terrible.

I am going to split Moravia from Bohemia - then you'll start referring to the former state with its proper name (pretty much like today you still call us Czechoslovakia), and then we'll join back together (after the Bohemians grant us certain concessions, of course).

I just see no other way to overcome the innate Anglo-Saxon handicap concerning geography.