Often, politics.
Via the LAT: Tongue-twister names in the U.N.
when Bush announced new sanctions on the military regime in Myanmar, he purposely used its pre-overthrow name, Burma, signaling that the United States does not recognize the current government. The delegate from Myanmar called a point of order to object.
The president of the General Assembly, who is Macedonian, got a double taste of name trouble Tuesday. Srgjan Kerim introduced his president as being from the “Republic of Macedonia,” although that name is disputed by Greece, and the new country is officially known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM (pronounced officially as FY-rom).
Greece protested, saying that Kerim disrespected the institution over which he is presiding by not using the U.N.-sanctioned name. Kerim said, “I am a citizen of the state of Macedonia, so I decided to abide by my constitution and call it what we call it.”
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September 27th, 2024 at 10:41 am
If I were a reporter I would keep on asking Bush to comment on his relationship with Turkmenistan president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov to see if he makes a stab at pronouncing it.
I would suspect that he has invented a cute nickname for him. How about “Gurby Berd”?
September 27th, 2024 at 2:35 pm