And now we have the following problem: Should Turkey change its Turkish word for turkey? Hindi it means Indian from India (Hindistan). Or Hindu.
Although this Hindi really means American (it comes from the Spanish misconception of the travel to "Indias" when they travelled to the Americas, and other languages also call turkey as "Rooster from Indias").
‘Of course the name of our countries is important to us. I notice my eyes dart across pages as I read anything political, looking for that capital “T.” Hearing my country’s name is a bit like hearing my own.’ - I would do this when I moved to the US from India in the 80s. Except I was disappointed almost all the time because Native Americans hadn’t been given that designation yet.
Very interesting! One quibble from this Dutchman: Holland was never the official name of the entire country (except from 1806-1810, when the French occupiers called it Kingdom Holland with Napoleon’s brother Louis as king). Holland was and is only a part of it.
And now we have the following problem: Should Turkey change its Turkish word for turkey? Hindi it means Indian from India (Hindistan). Or Hindu.
Although this Hindi really means American (it comes from the Spanish misconception of the travel to "Indias" when they travelled to the Americas, and other languages also call turkey as "Rooster from Indias").
A complete mess ;)
I won’t quit calling Turkey ‘Turkey’ cold turkey.
‘Of course the name of our countries is important to us. I notice my eyes dart across pages as I read anything political, looking for that capital “T.” Hearing my country’s name is a bit like hearing my own.’ - I would do this when I moved to the US from India in the 80s. Except I was disappointed almost all the time because Native Americans hadn’t been given that designation yet.
Ha, I love that. I'm guessing you stopped beyond some unmarked point of assimilation.
Nah, I still do it. I’m rewarded with more relevant pieces but now they elicit more complicated feelings that fall into the eye rolling category.
Very interesting! One quibble from this Dutchman: Holland was never the official name of the entire country (except from 1806-1810, when the French occupiers called it Kingdom Holland with Napoleon’s brother Louis as king). Holland was and is only a part of it.
Greatly enjoyed your writing style (and expose into the hallowed chambers of Turkish politics)!
Thanks Stanislav, glad to hear you liked it. You might also be interested in my follow-up post on the subject here: https://kulturkampftr.substack.com/p/revisiting-turkey-vs-turkiye
Or just cut to the chase and call it “super-awesomeland 3000 💪”
And how dare you write Espana while it is España?