Stupid Names For Countries

OP = Chad Michael Murray aka TChad.

Any country with “of” in its name.

Fuck you, OP.

[quote] Any country that is a person's name

United States of America

Countries with United, Democratic, Socialist, or Great in their names.

Tchad? Are you French, OP?

Trininad & Tobago, Antigua & Barbuda, St Kitts & Nevis, St Vincent & the Grenadines, etc. are all dual or multi-island nations. What's wrong with having "&" ?

The only one I can think of that bothers me is Qatar because no one can seem to agree how it is pronounce, Guitar, Cutter, Catar, Gutter and Q's that aren't followed by a U just seems like it is breaking all the rules.

My peeve is an island that is two countries, that is just not right.

I've always hated United Arab Emirates.

Bothers Me and Hurts to Go Wee Wee

The two Congo's

anything that has "United" in the title since it's obviously bullshit, red states and blue states hate each other and agree on nothing, England leaves EU, Scotland stays.

How about The Ivory Coast? Is your coast really made of Ivory? South Korea? There's only one Korea and that's the northern one...

United States of America breaks basically all of these rules-it has a person's name, a preposition, an unnecessary adjective, and it's a description.

how about the capital is same name as country

Djibouti, Djibouti Bissau, Guinea Bissau

didn't there used to be a cuntry called Up Her Vulva?

Countries where they just swap a few letters around:

Slovenia / Slovakia

Niger / Nigeria

This isn’t Scrabble!

Chad....sounds like a frat boy.

Slovenia and Slovakia don't just have very similar names. They also have almost identical official flags.

It's probably a defence 'chameleon' strategy. In case hostile foreign nations decide to bomb one of them. They're probably hoping the enemy will get confused and bomb the wrong tiny country.

How about countries with the name land/Stan. We know it's a land!

Some inferior countries have only one puny 'land', and some superior countries have many 'lands'.

R16 How's about Brazil/Brasilia

Why hasn't Benelux merged into one more powerful country?

Good point. And why can't they agree on either Bosnia or Herzegovina? It's only 3.5 million people, and Yugoslavia has already been carved into about five other pieces good grief...

[quote] How about countries with the name land/Stan. We know it's a land!

That's the historic 'fault' / quirk of Germans and Brits (who were influenced by the proto-Germans). They're the ones that slapped on "-land" to the names of many foreign countries. Even though the actual (original, local) country names are either much shorter, or more precise & helpfully descriptive in terms of what the country is (Republic, Kingdom, etc).

What the Germans & Brits called "Po-land" is actually just "Polska" (Republic). What the Germans called "Russ-land" was actually just called "Rus". And so on and so forth.

Turks and Caicos. What a stupid, STUPID name!

"Turks." Is that dumb or what? "Caicos." Is that pronounced "cake-ohs" or "kike-ohs?" Why don't they go all the way and spell it Turks 'n Caicos?

"Turks." Jesus.

My 1st pet peeve - countries with official names that are just too long and cumbersome. E.g. "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". Gee golly, that's a mouthful. Just make the official legal name "Britannia" or something. Be concise. You can then elaborate in small print in your constitution or other document what smaller nations or lands are included - you don’t need to CRAM it all into the official name.

My 2nd pet peeve - abridged versions of some countries’ names (usually the ones with the silly, long official names), where the shorter versions are just completely generic and unhelpfully non-descript. Shorter names are perfect, but they need to be UNIQUE, not generic. Like "the United Kingdom" (standing for "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"). “The United Kingdom” is such a silly, confusing short-form name - it can literally be used to describe any country that’s "united" from smaller parts and still has a monarch (“kingdom”). Even the United Arab Emirates can also be called “a United Kingdom”.

Turkey and Greece

It really bothers me when people talk about Egypt being part of the Middle East, its in Africa.

You can bet that if a country has democratic in its name it isn't : Democratic Republic of the Congo or the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany)

Bhutan and Bahrain are confusing. And do they have to have all those ‘stans? Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan....the stans are endless.

I concur.

R8 I think the Q in Romanization of Arabic is to denote a guttural Kh sound.

Why is the official name for Egypt the Arab Republic of Egypt when 91 % of the population are not Arabs but ethnic Egyptians ?

[quote] Why hasn't Benelux merged into one more powerful country?

Blame the Walloons. It works for us.

This thread is a perfect warm-up for the upcoming 2020 Olympics' opening ceremony country parade.

[quote] It really bothers me when people talk about Egypt being part of the Middle East, its in Africa.

But Africa is in the Middle East, which includes part of Africa, Asia and Europe (Turkey). See the map in the upper right at the link.

The stupid part is calling it the "Middle East" in the first place. Compared to what? The "Far East" I guess, which is China/Japan/Korea? Then there's South Asia (India) and Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines?)

Oh well, there just conventions invented by Europeans but it's a matter of perspective. The Europeans' perspective only.

* they're just conventions...

Add Central Asia (Kazakhstan, etc) and North Asia (Siberia) to that mix as well, R38.

The "Middle East" should really be called "West Asia". We have "West Africa" and "West Europe" and "West Australia" - so it makes sense they should have "West Asia", especially since they have "East Asia". One can't have an "East" without a "West".

R40, we are, and always have been, at war with EastAsia.

The Q in Qatar is a transliteration of Arabic qāf, which, depending on dialect, can either be pronounced /q/ or "kh", or /g/, or an untranslatable glottal plosive that does not exist in English. The vowel sounds also vary depending on dialect/accent. Hence, the many different ways Qatar is pronounced.

Long ago, the East or the Orient meant the Middle East (from a European standpoint). Hence, "We Three Kings of Orient Are." China, Japan, etc., were the Far East. Somewhere along the line, "Orient" shifted in meaning to Far East.

[quite] R14: How about The Ivory Coast? Is your coast really made of Ivory?

I think that the Ivory Coast was where ivory, slaves, and other riches were traded.

[quote] the East or the Orient meant the Middle East ... China, Japan, etc., were the Far East.

But what did that system make of the (gigantic) expanse of Central Asia then (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, etc)? The "Not So Far" East?

[quote] R38: The stupid part is calling it the "Middle East" in the first place. Compared to what? The "Far East" I guess, which is China/Japan/Korea? Then there's South Asia (India) and Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines?)

Yes, the Far East is indeed China/Japan/Korea, I suppose we shouldn’t use “Oriental”?

The opposite of the “Oriental” is “Occidental”, for West.

"We" who, R41? Queen Elizabeth II? If you mean the US, it's been in simmering conflict with most of Asia (West, North and East). South Asia (India, etc) is the only one that's mostly unaffected. But only because it's already been conquered by Britain.

"Turkey" owns this thread. "Ottoman Empire" was much cooler.

Yeah, but Ottoman Empire wasn’t the name of a country per se. It was a collection of countries.

Yeah, but Ottoman Empire wasn’t the name of a country per se. It was a collection of countries.

Africa is a shithole country with a stupid name.

A long time ago when I was young - 1980's - I think the country Turkey ran some ads in the US to attract tourists, and they pronounced it (in English) 'Tour-key-yay.

They must hate that they're country is the gobbledy necked bird in English.

Sheesh -- they're country should have been THEIR country.

I hate English. Is Turkish better?

Djibouti always makes me laugh.

Well, DID you?

I’m “not a fan” of places that have undergone name changes so as to be spelled in English with a better approximation of the native pronunciation. I find it confusing. Such as:

Beijing

Mumbai

And what about Myanmar and Mozambique? I liked Burma and Rhodesia.

Paraguay and Uruguay are STUPID NAMES!!!

[quote] I’m “not a fan” of places that have undergone name changes so as to be spelled in English with a better approximation of the native pronunciation.

Vienna should always remain Vienna, and avoid calling itself "Wien" if it has any sense about it.

I love Paraguay and Uruguay! They're like the Wonder Twins of countries.

[quote] how about the capital is same name as country Djibouti, Djibouti Bissau, Guinea Bissau

Panama's capital is Panama (they don't say Panama City.) Ditto for Mexico.

[quote]I love Paraguay and Uruguay! They're like the Wonder Twins of countries.

Their national anthems were even written by the same person.

R41 is an inner party member, drinking victory gin in his gray caftan.

Any country with People's, i.e. People's Republic of....

They're always not republics and always not for or by the people.

Same with "Socialist."

Georgia.

Probably not their fault (it's not the real local name), but the English version is very confusing in newspaper headlines: e.g. "10 people died in a forest fire in Georgia". Annoyingly, they usually never specify in the headline WHICH Georgia they even mean.

The real local name of the country is "Sakartvelo". Which might help with the confusion - but honestly doesn't sound very pretty.

Paraguay ( or was it Uruguay?) was created because rivals Argentina and Brazil didn’t want the other to have the land.

Same with Vermont. Neither Mass/Maine or NY wanted the other to have it.

R63 speaking of Vermont, it wasn't 'til I was in my 50's I figured out it means Green Mountain in French!

R54: Rhodesia is now Zambia and Zimbabwe, you geographic fool. It was also a racist name for both a racialist Empire and then, in Zimbabwe/Southern Rhodesia, a hideous apartheid state. Good riddance to it.

In the vernacular of Central Asia, the suffix "stan" means "land of". So, Kazakhstan means land of the Kasakhs. Interestingly, the Persian name for India is Hindustan, for land of the Hindus.

What is Lesotho doing in the middle of South Africa?

And, r66, the Turks refer to many foreign countries as something-stan. Greece is Yunanistan, Bulgaria is Bulgaristan, etc.

Molvanîa

If the posters in this thread were a country, its name would be Dumb and Unfunny.

Sri Lanka, I liked Ceylon better.

Pre Civil War: These United States

Post Civil War: The United States

People's Republic of China - China is hardly a republic. It's a highly regulated, autocratic dictatorship.

Democratic People's Republic of Korea - North Korea is a brutal, absolute dictatorship, not a democracy.

And r70 would be My-Pussy-Stinkistan.

The United States of America is actually pretty stupid. There's nothing we can call ourselves but Americans, but that gets various Latin American people mad because dammit, they're Americans too. Never mind that their countries don't have such stupid names and they can be called Mexicans or Brazilians or Argentines, etc. What else could be? Statesians? Ussians?

It's just ridiculous. Let's wipe it out and start all over - leaving Trump to some carved out red state area where they can make him king.

Actually, green mountain in French would be more like Mont Verte, or Montagne Verte.

Datalounge wouldn't be Datalounge without some French language queen chiming in.

"The Benelux Countries" has to be the stupidest name for a country.

..and what's with all the Guinea's... Guinea, New Guinea, Equatorial Guinea....PIG!

[quote]"The Benelux Countries" has to be the stupidest name for a country

it's not a country, but a way to refer to the 3 countries that make up the Benelux

R73: Actually it is a republic in the modern usage of the term. Republic just means you don't have a monarchy. That's it. But no it is not a democracy, not at all.

Mexico's name is actually Estados Unidos Mexicanos, or in English the United Mexican States. Brazil is República Federativa do Brasil, or the Federative Republic of Brazil.

R14, and speaking of the Ivory Coast, its official name in English is "The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire." The Ivoirien government requests that their French name not be translated into English (other languages don't have such a restriction, or they simply ignore it!). That is why in the Olympics and other international sporting events like the World Cup, they are always Côte d'Ivoire.

Why don't we just call countries and cities by the names the locals call them?

Which locals would that be in the U.S., hon?

Czechia. Ugh.

R79, “New Guinea” isn’t a country. Papua New Guinea is a country and Guinea-Bissau is a country (as are Guinea and Equatorial Guinea).

Turks and Caicos is also not a country, to the poster who erroneously called it thus.

R83, thanks for chiming in about Côte d’Ivoire because I was about to correct some of the dumb-dumbs calling it Ivory Coast too.

I know this would be difficult for countries with multiple official/commonly spoken languages, but I wish the international community would simply write the name of each country as that country spells it. Germany would universally be known as Deutschland. Finland would be Suomi.

United States of America is probably the lamest name of all

[quote]I know this would be difficult for countries with multiple official/commonly spoken languages, but I wish the international community would simply write the name of each country as that country spells it. Germany would universally be known as Deutschland. Finland would be Suomi.

I don't know about that. You would have a hard time getting monoglots to say Kalaallit Nunaat, Magyarország, Hrvatska, and 한국.

well smell r87!

AND another thing - who makes up the rules whether a country gets a “the” in front of it?

Back when when Grandpa Simpson was wearing an onion tied to his belt, people said “The Argentine” and “The Ukraine,” but somewhere along the way, they lost their definite articles.

Do they miss them?

I liked Taiwan's former name, Formosa.

OT: I was thinking of starting a thread the other day on how annoyed I am by the name [bold]François[/bold].

I resisted.

r92 Taiwan is not the name of a country.

R91, in old time Spanish, the definite articles, el and la (the) preceded the names of countries: el Brasil, el Perú, la China, and la Argentina. This convention has fallen out of favor, and now you would just say Brasil, Perú, China. However, certain countries just sound better with the definite article: La India, El Salvador, La Argentina. In French, they still use the definite article: le Mexique, le Japon, la Chine, l'Argentine... So that's probably why English-speaking oldtimers used to say "The Argentine," derived from the French.

Ukraine or Ukrayina means "frontier" or "borderland" as it was the southern-most region between Poland and Kievan Rus', the cultural ancestors of Ukraine, Russia, and Belorus. When that region was absorbed into the Russian Empire, it was simply "the Ukraine" -- the borderland. After the Ukraine gained its independence in 1991, it dropped the definite article since it was no longer the borderland, but a full-fledged nation.

[quote] Countries where they just swap a few letters around: Slovenia / Slovakia

Slovenia!

Slovakia!

Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!

[quote] Ukraine or Ukrayina means "frontier" or "borderland" ... it dropped the definite article since it was no longer the borderland, but a full-fledged nation.

"Ukraine" (even without the definite article) still seems like a somewhat silly name to keep - because the comical meaning of the noun is still there. As far as understand, it means not just "borderland" or "frontier" but also "outskirts". Like "outskirts of a town" or "outskirts of an empire". That's a bit funny. Who would want to be (internationally) known as "Outskirt region"?

It's like if a border area of Texas or North Dakota was known as, say, the Boondocks, and then later seceded - but kept calling itself in fancy international ambassador meetings in Paris or Vienna as "The Boondocks Republic" :).

Ukraine should learn from the cheeky Brits:

Choose an overly long, pompous-sounding name ("United Kingdom of ... blah blah") and make sure to stick "Great" in there. You can modestly assure others it simply means "Greater area" (like "Greater metropolitan area"), but British politicians & monarchs secretly know it's actually a sly, self-congratulatory compliment.

And, this way, almost all people on the planet, for all posterity, will be legally REQUIRED to compliment you in formal speeches and written letters as "Great". Even your war enemies may need to call you "Great".

We think we're pretty fan-fucking-tastic R98.

In French, there is Bretagne (Britanny) and Grande-Bretagne (Great Britain), illustrating how Great Britain is great not because it so fabulous, but because it is simply bigger than the other Britain.

[quote]What is Lesotho doing in the middle of South Africa?

And what is San Marino doing in the middle of Italy?

Further to the definite article—I miss The Lebanon!!

-In French, they still use the definite article: le Mexique, le Japon, la Chine, l'Argentine

Why le for some and la for others?

R102 Because French is a gendered language.

Yes, so...pray continue r103

R104 some nouns are male and therefore you use the masculine article le. Some nouns are feminine and you therefore use la. When nouns are plural you use les, regardless of gender, therefore The United States is Les États-Unis.

Oy vey,,, so why do some countries merit a le and others get a la?

R106 It is about the ending of the word.

Typically masculine noun endings (+90%)

-an, -and, -ant, -ent, -in, -int, -om, -ond, -ont, -on (but not after s/c¸)

-eau, -au, -aud, -aut, -o, -os, -ot

-ai, -ais, -ait, -es, -et

-ou, -out, -out, -oux

-i, -il, -it, -is, -y

-at, -as, -ois, -oit

-u, -us, -ut, -eu

-er, -é after C (C=t)

-age, -ege, – ème, -ome, -aume, -isme

-as, -is, -os, -us, -ex

-it, -est

-al, -el, -il, -ol, -eul, -all

-if, -ef

-ac, -ic, -oc, -uc

-am, -um, -en

-air, -er, -erf, -ert, -ar, -arc, -ars, -art, -our, -ours, -or, -ord, -ors, -ort, -ir, -oir, -eur

-ail, -eil, -euil, -ueil

-ing

I miss Siam.

Whales. What kind of name is that for a country,

Typically feminine noun endings (+90%) -aie, -oue, -eue, -ion, -te, – ée, -ie, -ue

-asse, -ace, -esse, -ece, -aisse, -isse/-ice, -ousse, -ance, -anse, -ence, -once

-enne, -onne, -une, -ine, -aine, -eine, -erne

-ande, -ende, -onde, -ade, -ude, -arde, -orde

-euse, -ouse, -ase, -aise, -ese, -oise, -ise, -yse, -ose, -use

-ache, -iche, -eche, -oche, -uche, -ouche, -anche

-ave, -eve, -ive

-iere, -ure, -eure

-ette, -ete, – ête, -atte, -otte, -oute, -orte, -ante, -ente, -inte, -onte

-alle, -elle, -ille, -olle

-aille, -eille, -ouille

-appe, -ampe, -ombe

-igue

You're exhausting r110. But I asked for it. Fank you.

Chile. I mean, come on.

France knows this and Britain knows this, R100, but most countries farther away don't. So let's keep our little secret about why we are so pleasantly universally hailed as "Grrrreat".

Togo.

But Tonga - you're excused.

China. Turkey. Greece. Doing the Thanksgiving dishes.

Nothin' beats it when you're Hungary.

There a The Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia Greece.

R115 make sure the canned pumpkin comes from Libya, Libya , Libya on the Label. Label ,label

I meant:

“The Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia”. Greece objected to the name “Macedonia”, because there is a Greek province already named that. So, it was FYRM. 29 years later, I noticed that

I thought it was finally agreed the country would be "North Macedonia"

El Salvador is a stupid name. It sounds like a church... NOT A COUNTRY.

I am confused about why we call it Germany in English? The actual name of the country is Deutschland, which sounds nothing like what we call it.

Brazil is named after a type of wood and most Brazilians today, like me, don't even know how it looks like.

R122 We call it Germany, as a translation of the Roman name for the area, Germania.

Endonyms and exonyms rarely match, and they haven't ever matched going back thousands of years. That's why we get Germany in English and Deutschland in German, Japan in English and Nihon in Japanese, Suomi in Finnish and Finland in English, etc.

[quote] I thought it was finally agreed the country would be "North Macedonia"

That may well be. I have noticed that it is abbreviated, but didn’t look for at anything unusual.

[quote]Greece objected to the name “Macedonia”, because there is a Greek province already named that

That's not all Greece objected for. For the Greeks, the Macedonian republic or whatever it's called was trying to pass itself off as heirs and descendants of ancient Macedonians, who were linguistically part of the Greek family. That was too much to the Greeks as they derive a lot of their national pride on their descent from ancient Greeks. Watch a Greek's face turn red from anger after you tell him that he descends partially from Slavs. -- Which by the way is true but they hate to hear it.

It was known as the FYROM, but it has officially changed to North Macedonia. A large portion of northern Greece was historically part of Macedonia, but when “Macedonia” became part of Yugoslavia, this portion was given to Greece. After Yugoslavia fell apart, Macedonians felt they could not be called Macedonia until they were wholly reunited with the pieces given to Greece (and Bulgaria).

Some citizens cared, but this was mostly just a tactic to stir or nationalist pride by the Macedonian politicians. They insisted on being called the FYROM to remind people that they were still fighting to reunite all their people. I don’t know if North Macedonia is much better, but it seems to make both sides happier.

Wales, Wallonia, Wallachia, Galicia, Galatia, Gaul, Vlach, Valais, etc. are all cognates, having derived from Proto-Germanic "Walhaz," meaning foreigner or stranger, a term applied to all the Romanized Celts who lived in the former Western Roman Empire. Walhaz itself derived from the Roman "Uolcae" or "Volcae," a Celtic tribe that originated in the Rhine and expanded east to Anatolia and west to Gallia Narbonensis. The French and Spanish/Portuguese names for Wales, Pays de Galles and País de Gales is evidence of the linguistic shift from initial w to g in the Romance languages. Also, Corn[italic]wall[/italic] and Portu[italic]gal[/italic].

[quote]some nouns are male and therefore you use the masculine article le. Some nouns are feminine and you therefore use la

I hate to break it to you... but some nouns are cis and some are trans. And some nouns are nonbinary and many are queer.

I think Canada should change its name to "the United Provinces of America," to piss the US off like Macedonia did with Greece.

Also, from Roman "Uuasconiae" -> Wasconia, Vasconia -> Gascuña, Gasconha, Gascogne, Gascony, País Vasco, Pays Basque, Basque Country

Djibouti is the stupidest name.

Niger.

R134 I remember an elementary school classmate who was black, he pronounced it as Nig%er. When the teacher corrected him, he told her she was wrong, because his parents told him that it was pronounced Nig%er because that is where all black people come from.

Oh fuck, will all of this be on the test?

eSwatini

Isle of Mann

Austria /Australia

Slovakia / Slovenia

Let’s call the whole thing off

its Knee ZHair

Again, R138, not a country.

[quote]I think Canada should change its name to "the United Provinces of America," to piss the US off like Macedonia did with Greece.

R131: Several months later, when Americans finally noticed that Canada had changed its name, most* would not care. Note the contrast with Greece.

Also, the country would be the UPA, which would inevitably be pronounced "oopah". Canadians generally have a good sense of humor, but I don't think even they would care much for that.

*Except the current occupant of the WH, who would probably tweet that Canadians should stay on their own side of the Pacific Ocean, or something.

Burkina Faso, formerly the Republic of Upper Volta, and its capital city of Ouagadougou (sometimes called Vagaga).

[quote] he pronounced it as Nig%er

The Republic of Niger, and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, are still (officially) pronounced like your friend pronounced them by many foreign countries. Especially those that didn't have black slavery and are clueless about the touchy phonetic repercussions of that English word. It creates some awkward "lost in translation" situations sometimes.

[quote] Isle of Mann

Good heavens, that itty-bitty British Crown Dependancy seceded from us while I was asleep in bed this morning? Philip! Why didn't you wake me up!

[quote] We call it Germany, as a translation of the Roman name for the area, Germania.

It is widely called "Ger-man-ia" or similar (from Latin or Celtic) - by the Italians, Irish and many East Europeans.

Or a scrabble-type, cuter variation of virtually the same name: "Ale-man-ia" or similar (by the Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, French, Welsh, etc). "Alemanni" were a Germanic tribe living in Western Europe. That's why "Aleman" was even the previous English name for Germany.

It is also called "Nemecko" (or variations with "Nem"-something) by some Central and East Europeans. It's hypothesised it's perhaps a funny (and slightly sarcastic, fun-poking) exonym meaning "mutes". Because the foreign Germans obviously couldn't speak the local language. In Bulgaria, the country is called "Germania" but the Germans themselves are still called "Nemski".

Anyway, of all the names for Germany, "Deutschland" is in the far minority. So, based on the pan-European majority consensus, it's the Germans themselves who got it wrong :).

The Isle if Mann is self-governing, with Liz as head of State. How is that different from Canada? Aside from it being tiny and relying on the UK for Defense?

Fair enough, I think the Isle of Mann is indeed represented separately in the Olympics.

The locals seem to be called "Manx". Which makes them sound like non-binary "Latinx".

Why aren’t French and Italian speaking people considered Latino, or “Latinx”?

Why is it only Spanish-speaking people, or possibly Portuguese in the case of Brazilians??

It seems rather arbitrary to me.

They all used to be called Latins.

Perhaps because the Spanish & Portuguese conquered South & Central America (popularising it as 'Latin America' and thereby earning that moniker themselves).

But, technically, the ITALIANS (and Italian-Americans) should be the main ones called "Latins", not the copy-cat Spaniards:

[quote] "The Latins were originally an ITALIC tribe in ancient central Italy from Latium. As Roman power and colonisation spread Latin culture, Latins came to mean mostly unified ITALIC people and the Latin-speaking people of Dacia, Iberia, Illyria, and Gaul whose land was settled by Latin (Italian) colonists."

So, technically, any white person from, or descended from, central western Italy can comfortably declare himself as the REAL "Latinx".

Because Latium (the motherland region of the Latin tribe, which includes the city of Rome) is in Italy, not in South/Central America.

[quote]eSwatini

Oh, those wacky Swazis!

How's "The Oriental Republic of Uruguay" for geographic misdirection?

I still can't figure out how they came up with that moniker.

Somehow I want to work in a reference to Shangri-La, but it’s not happening.

Because, r154, “oriental” means “eastern” in Spanish, and Uruguay is east of the Río de la Plata.

R154, it is a clumsy translation of "la República Oriental del Uruguay," which literally means "The Eastern Republic of the Uruguay (River). West of the Uruguay River is la República Argentina.

It's the Isle of MAN, not MANN, you morons.

[quote]It is widely called "Ger-man-ia" or similar (from Latin or Celtic) - by the Italians, Irish and many East Europeans.

So please explain why Italians use "tedesco" as the adjective for things German.

R159, then explain to me why the French call Americans “Les Hamburgers”.

R160 The same reason the French are known as Frogs, and they call the British les rosbifs.

R146. A dialect of German spoken in the Black Forest is called “Allemanisch”

R160, Germany in Italian is "Germania," but the people and language are referred to as "tedesco," which derives from Medieval Latin "theodiscus," which comes from Old High German "thiutisk" meaning "belonging to the people." From "thiutisk" we also get the words duits (Dutch for German), deutsch, and Dutch. Thus, tedesco and deutsch are cognates.

Agree about the curious use/not use of the definite article with country names in English. The Ivory Coast. The Argentine. The Ukraine, The Crimea (yes, I know it's not a country). Why did some countries/geographical areas get the article and others didn't. I once used "the" Ukraine (antiquated, showing my age) and was lectured by a man of Ukrainian heritage how the use of "the" was condescending and evidence of American imperialist inclinations. etc.

You cunts have WAY too much time on your hands.

The Netherlands!

R166 The mystery compounded by "The" Hague in that country. R165 I'm sure you'll be happier checking Instagram or watching that new Netflix show.

R166, if it were singular, Netherland, then the definite article isn't needed, like England, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland. However, it is plural, the Netherlands, referring to the Low Countries that lie at the lower basin of the Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt rivers.

Les Pays-Bas - Los Países Bajos - I Paesi Bassi - The Low Countries

After throwing off the yoke of British imperialism and the name Rhodesia, Zimbabweans reverted to the customary African economically disastrous governance of tribal graft and corruption.

U.A.R. United Arab Emirates.

As opposed to what? United Chinese Emirates? United European Emirates?

I meant U.A.E., and U.A.R. was a stupid name for Egypt.

[quote] It's the Isle of MAN, not MANN, you morons.

"Isle of Mann" is actually the more correct, historic version of the name, R158:

[quote] The Manx name for the Isle of Man is "Ellan Vannin": "ellan" meaning "island"; "Vannin" is the genitive case of "Mannin". Hence Ellan Vannin = "Island of Mannin / Mann". The short form used in English ("Mann") is derived from the Manx word "Mannin" (with 2 N's), though sometimes the name is written as "Man".

[quote] The Crimea (yes, I know it's not a country)

I don't think Crimea itself was ever used with a definite article, R164. I think you mean "the Crimean peninsula". Like "the Iberian peninsula".

[quote] I once used "the" Ukraine (antiquated, showing my age) and was lectured by a man of Ukrainian heritage how the use of "the" was condescending and evidence of American imperialist inclinations. etc.

I never understood why they thought it was "condescending". If anything, having a definite article in front ("the") actually makes a country sound more grandiose and royal, like "The" one.

They weren't just any Ukraine, they were "THE" Ukraine.

r149 I have an old reference book that counts Quebec and even Louisiana as part of "Latin America" since people in those places widely speak a Latin-derived language. That usage has definitely fallen out of favor for whatever reason. (Maybe because those areas are sort of isolated from the rest of the "Latinx" countries physically and aren't as culturally similar as the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking groups, who were probably like 99% of the total of Latin Americans and maybe came to be seen as the face of the "Latinos" for that reason. I don't know.)

[quote]The United States of America is actually pretty stupid. There's nothing we can call ourselves but Americans, but that gets various Latin American people mad because dammit, they're Americans too. Never mind that their countries don't have such stupid names and they can be called Mexicans or Brazilians or Argentines, etc. What else could be? Statesians? Ussians?

If you think about it, "America" is kind of our name. We're the United States of America. The official name for Mexico is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" - the United States of Mexico. Or literally more like the "United Mexican States." But historically, a number of countries in the Americas have had official names that refer to their "states." At one point, Brazil was ""Estados Unidos do Brasil." I think we did start the trend, so I guess we get to decide how the name should function, but it was a questionable choice to start defining ourselves as "Americans" when there are millions of Americans who don't live in the United States of America.

The closest analogy would be if Germany, upon its final Unification in the 19th C from a plethora of independent mini-states, named itself "The United States of Europe" (U.S.E.) and its people as "Europeans" - blithely and merrily ignoring everyone else on the European continent :).

[quote] if it were singular, Netherland, then the definite article isn't needed

In Dutch it's 'Nederland', singular without an article

[quote] They weren't just any Ukraine, they were "THE" Ukraine.

Indeed. Because, as pointed out above, "Ukraine", as a Slavic noun, means something very generic like "border area" / "outskirts" / "periphery" / "fringes".

So they're not just "some" random outskirts or end of the world - they're "The" Outskirts :).

I actually think it sounded better that way.

@theukraine would be its Millennial twitter handle.

@therealukraine

R173 As recently 2014 (Russia's invasion) British newspapers were referred to "the Crimea." If it were modifying "peninsula" it would be "the Crimean Peninsula", which, of course it is called.

Some people, particularly Canadians, refer to Baja California as “the Baja.” Why, I have no idea.

R183, fair enough, but it seems both versions (i.e. with and without the definite article) were used by British (and US) newspapers. For example, here's a Guardian news article from 2006 which refers to it without any article:

[quote] "US marines who were preparing for NATO-led war games in the Ukrainian region of Crimea left amid acrimony on Monday after weeks of protest against the military..."

[quote] NY Times, 2010: "He has started work on a film based on a story by Ivan Bunin and set in Crimea in the 1920s."

Then of course there's what some other Europeans call Germany - Alemania

Countries named after body parts: Toeronto.

Mendorra and Eterna

How about The Levant? (Again, not a country.)

any one that isn't preceded by Grand Duchy of ...

It’s the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, not Liechtenstein you ding-dong.

It’s the Principality of Liechtenstein.

[quote]Countries named after body parts: Toeronto.

EnGLAND.

PhiLIPpines.

PhilipPENIS.

PhilipPEENS.

United States of AmeriCUNT.

Since when is Torontoe a country?

What about Peru? Isn’t that a short name for a country? Is it pronounced Pay-ru like in Indiana? (So happy I’m making a contribution to this fascinating thread)

And we love you for it, R194!

B. Olivia

Vatican City.

I think the hill that the Vatican was built on was called “Vatican” and predates Christianity.

Calling a city a country is stupid.

R199 Remember Vatican City used to also have the Papal States, but they lost them over the years, especially with the unification of Italy.

Lower Slobbovia

Iran.

Named after A Flock Of Seagulls’ song.

La Côte d'Ivoire sounds nice in French.

There should be a country called La Côte Basque.

It most certainly was The Crimea.

Here's a tangent for you. Swiss named mountains are the rare mountains that start in English with the definite article "the". Maybe the only ones? The Matterhorn. The Jungfrau. The Eiger.

R194. Peru is a whole category: “Drag Queen Eponyms”

R194, not as short as Chad and Laos.

And it's Peh-ROO.

WHET Siam?

It was added to the list of countries that used to be on maps but aren't anymore. Let's list some!

Ceylon

East Pakistan

British Honduras

Dutch Guiana

Yugoslavia

The Belgian Congo

French West Africa

Czechoslovakia

Great Britain

The United Soviet Socialist Republic

I agree with r5. America should be reserved for the continents. Come up with something else for the name of the country.

r20 If you find those two coat of arms "almost identical", you just might share your IQ with GWB, so that's nice for you.

R209,

The Ottoman Empire

The Russian Empire

The German Empire

The Chinese Empire

The Japanese Empire

Austria-Hungary

Persia

Arabia

Abyssinia

Congo State

French Congo

British East Africa

German East Africa

Portuguese East Africa

Italian Somaliland

Rhodesia

Dutch East Indies

Federated Malay States

French Indochina

West Indies

Why is Greenland called Greenland, when it's white?

R212, to fool tourists.

R212, in the Sagas of the Icelanders it says, "In the summer, Erik left to settle in the country he had found, which he called Greenland, as he said people would be attracted there if it had a favorable name.”

However, the reality is, several centuries before the Sagas were written, when Erik the Red left and landed on the southwest shores of Greenland in 982 CE, Greenland was a good ten degrees warmer, and what Erik saw before him that summer could very well have been a verdant green landscape. By the 14th century, summer temperatures had dropped, and once fertile grassland were overtaken by ice. The Norse settlers had to abandoned their colonies and left Greenland altogether, leaving it to Portuguese explorers to rediscover it and rename it Terra do Lavrador.

So did global warming make Greenland green again? First it became 10 degrees colder, now it’s becoming warmer again?

There was a warm period during the first British settlement of America. Then it got cold again in time for Charles Dickens to write about a snowy Christmas. Not anything like we will go through, though.

R215, There was a Medieval Warming Period, followed by a Little Ice Age. These temperature "spells" seemed to be limited to the Northern Hemisphere, not on a global scale.

Places named after animals:

Persia (cat)

Siam (cat)

Labrador (dog)

Galapagos (turtle, shark, birds)

R218, isn't it the other way around? Animals named after places.

Pekingnese (Beijingnese?)

Chihuahua (dog)

Pomeranian (dog)

Dalmatian (dog)

Havanese (dog)

Bengal (tiger, cat)

Abyssinian (cat, guinea pig)

Guinea (pig)

Burmese (cat, python)

Manx (cat)

Singapura (cat)

Etc, etc, etc

[quote] Further to the definite article—I miss The Lebanon!!

I miss The Human League (or is it just Human League)?

Abyssinia?

We’ll be seein’ ya too, hon!

[quote] Any country that is a description, (Central African Republic)

United States of America

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

The United Arab Emirates

The People's Republic of China

Trumpistan

I never understood if The Ukraine (pre 1989) was a country or not. I think it, and Belarus, had UN seats, but so did the USSR. I’ll bet when they first demanded those seats, the American UN ambassador rolled his eyes.

Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union (USSR) before 1989.

It's not "The Ukraine," despite popular misconceptions to the contrary.

It's just "Ukraine."

R225 & R226, I know, but before 1989, [italic] The Ukraine [/italic] had a UN seat, IIRC, despite being part of the USSR. So did Belarus.

R224, Ukraine and Belarus (Byelorussia) were countries (republics) within the Soviet Union. A little amendment to the Soviet constitution in 1944 allowed the Soviet Republics to be recognized as sovereign states in international law, which is why Ukraine and Belarus were allowed to join the UN General Assembly.

Interesting, R228. TU.

It most definitely was THE Ukraine.

Were you all educated in a strip mall?

R226, R230, this was already discussed in R95, et. al.

R224 is writing about the country before 1989, when it was called The Ukraine. That’s the confusion here.

Ukraine changed its name not just because it's no longer a borderland but for political reasons-- specifically to emphasize its status as a sovereign country.

From Wikipedia:

[quote] "The Ukraine" used to be the usual form in English,[21] but since the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, "the Ukraine" has become less common in the English-speaking world, and style-guides largely recommend not using the definite article.[12][22] "The Ukraine" now implies disregard for the country's sovereignty, according to U.S. ambassador William Taylor.[23] The Ukrainian position is that the usage of "'The Ukraine' is incorrect both grammatically and politically."[7]

When I studied at THE Sorbonne, it no longer existed as such, but of course that's the way I said it in English. L’université Paris-Sorbonne on the diploma and Paris-IV to the hoi polloi. Low and behold, 2 years ago it became "Sorbonne Université" an abomination without the article.

I'm going to take my degree from THE Sorbonne and retire to Le Caire one of these days. I won't call it The Cairo, though, even if that would be nice.

Le Caire est une francisation, à travers l'italien Il Cairo, du terme arabe Al-Qāhira, qui signifie « la conquérante » ou encore « celle qui nargue ou défait »

R235, I understood all of your post without Google translate! I'm so happy!

Being pissily pedantic, all of the Soviet Bloc countries had different names in 1989.

I thought that Labrador must be French for Arm of Gold (La Bras d'Or) which makes sense because there are gold deposits there. Wikipedia tells me that Labrador is named for a Portuguese who explored that coast. Labrador is Portuguese for labourer.

R238, the Portuguese explorer was João Fernandes Lavrador. Lavrador in Portuguese means "farmer," from the root "lavrar," to plough, to cultivate.

Crimea must be completely lawless.

Something about the name "Russian Federation" bugs me. I can think of multiple countries that call themselves the "Federal Republic of" wherever, but not the FEDERATION.

Somehow it seems almost creepy. But it's probably the other way around, the country before the name: the Soviet Union always creeped me the hell out as a kid, and now modern Russia does a bit too.

Greenland and Iceland need to swap names. Greenland has more ice than green and Iceland has more green than ice. That bothers me.

Country bump

R209 Great Britain still exists, it's the name of the largest Island of the United Kingdom, the one with England, Scotland and Wales on it.

R98 = Magnus Pompey

I think it’s interesting that the “Dominion of Newfoundland” didn’t join Canada until 1949. It had remained a Crown Colony until then. How feisty!