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From: deb5@ellis.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Re: Siam is with a long I?
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References: <8BED46E.06D3003A24.uuout@kandy.com> <3176671f.11468570@news.nando.net> <Dq3C6J.HsG@midway.uchicago.edu> <317ca4b6.1972285@news.nando.net>
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 05:17:12 GMT
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In article <317ca4b6.1972285@news.nando.net>,
D Gary Grady <dgary@nando.net> wrote:
>deb5@ellis.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff) wrote:
>
>>In article <3176671f.11468570@news.nando.net>,
>>D Gary Grady <dgary@nando.net> wrote:
>>>As I recall, the official name is Muong Thai, meaing "Land of the
>>>Free".
>>
>>The official *Thai* name can be romanised as "Muong Thai", but the
>>Thais are not as pedantic as, e.g., the Burmese (I mean, the
>>Myanmarese) so "Thailand" is as acceptable in English as "Ireland"
>>for "/Eire" or "Spain" for "Espa~na".
>
>For the record, I wasn't suggesting that there was anything wrong with
>saying Thailand (or for that matter Siam), merely noting the origin of
>the name.
[snip]

Here's where we disagree:  I think there *is* something wrong with
using 'Siam" (at least, using it interchangeably with 'Thailand').
'Thailand' may not be the official English name of the country (in 
the sense that 'Ireland' is official for that country--it's in the
constitution, both versions), but it's certainly the form preferred by
Thai authorities when writing in English.  Using 'Siam' to refer to
the modern country makes as much sense as calling Istanbul Constantinople
or New York New Amersterdam.

-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
