Just musing on what seems t'be an ever-changing world.....
“Even old New York was once New Amsterdam,
why they changed it, I can’t say,
People just liked it better that way.
Istambul was Constantinople,
Now it’s Istambul, not Constantinople,
Why did Constantinople get the works,
That’s nobody’s business but the Turks…”
Son Dave is a traveling man…he’s flying in tomorrow for an o’nite stay ‘fore he flies out again, this time to Oman….when I wuz a boy, long ago in Beattyville, Ky, I had a teacher named Miz Fanny…she had her desk at the back of the room so if anyone turned their head to far to either the left or the right, she saw ’n acted immediately…sumtimes sooner…she wuz a sneaky old witch ’n every boy ’n girl in the 3rd ’n 4th grade wuz scairt of her (’n anyone who sez different is lying)…
Anyhow, one of the subjects that wuz mandatory in that long ago age wuz geography ’n we wuz supposed to memorize all them countries ’n be able to identify ‘em on a map where all the names had been covered….sort of like learning to type on a typewriter where all the keys are blank…(for ever’one who don’t recall typewriters, they’re sort of like a computer keyboard…for all those who don’t remember what a computer keyboard looks like…well, they keep sayin’ technology is wunnerful)….
Anyhow, not so long ago, son Dave wuz in Vietnam, in Ho Chi Minh City, going to a branch of Cambridge University…says it’s a very interesting place ’n he intends to return sometime ~ in the future ~ funny, but that’s what I said about the Grand Mesa in Colorado, among others that I never seem to be able to work into my scedule…
Ho Chi Mihn City use’ta be Saigon, well, since the 17th century anyway, ’n many of the South Vietnamese, at least those living in the USA, quite vehemently prefer Saigon ~ but, as we are so often reminded, the winners get to write history pretty much anyway they want...
Burma, which wuz really a big deal when I wuz a kid, what with the Brits getting their butt kicked pretty much all over the world (t’be fair, they were spread pretty durn thin) ’n then all the war news about The Burma Hump…’n, yes, I wuzn’ t very old ’n didn’t read all that much of the newspaper (much more innarested in the latest comix)…
The Portsmouth Times wuz a real newspaper back then ’n adults read the war news, ’n listened to war news on the radio, ’n talked about the war news (adults only since children were t’be seen ’n never heard at that time)…
There wuz usually a map on the front page denoting where we were ’n where the bad guys were ’n they was all strange names…Burma ’n Wake Island ’n Bataan ’n other hard to pronounce places were in all the adult conversations ’n yes indeed, little pitchers have big ears...
The Burman Hump wuz p’tick’larly puzzling to a little boy in Beattyville, Kentucky…I knew what a hump wuz, of course, but I think I wuz a little confused about what a Burma wuz…It sounded like a place but you could never be sure what adults were ackshully talking about…
Fortunately, there were news reels ’n movies ’n such but it wudn’t until I saw Burma on the big screen (in magnificent black ’n white, of course) ’n the announcer talked about the mountain range that separated Burma from China that I understood why they called it ‘The Hump’….
Anyway, t’day’s Burma is offically named Republic of the Union of Myanmar (dunno why Commies seem to like such complicated names) but to most of the world, the old world, anyway, it’s still Burma as it has been called that since…oh, the 9th century or thereabouts….
And Russia, oh good God, Russia has been Russia for…oh, hell, I don’t know how many years ’n I don’t want to look it up tho’ I suppose I could (9th century ’n named for a wildass group of nomads that called themselves, the Rus…well, makes sense then)...
For awhile, the Commies renamed it the United Soviet Socialist Republic (long, complicated name again) but now, it’s back to just plain old Russia…unless Putin c’n pull it together again ’n I ain’t got a clue what name he’ll come up with if he gets t’be King or Tsar or Vlad the Bad….
And China, or if you prefer, The Peoples Republic of China, since 1949 anyway…Well, ever since Formosa became Taiwan ’n almighty China became the PRC ’n seems like everyone just has to start changing names that have served humankind pretty darn well for thousands of years, well, the ubiquitous ‘They’ say that the only true constant is change….howsumever, if you go to a Chinese restaurant ‘most anywhere in the world ’n order Peking Duck, you pretty much get Peking Duck ’n not Beijing Duck….I don’t know if that holds true in Beijing/Peking or not but if anyone would like me to personally check it out, I will be happy to accept donations to defray the expense of the trip…
Caused me to wonder, if the Germans had won World War II, would they have changed the names of Paris ’n London ’n what might todays world call them…
As King Mongkut of Siam said, “t’is a puzzlement.”
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