Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. His name is Thar Sis and, inevitably, he went viral on Facebook. Thar Sis continues by asking the dogs of their origin and calling them “may loe” which I am sure mattered little to them. Only four language scholars sat in the 1989 commission, while the majority of the commission was made up of military officials and civil servants with no particular knowledge of linguistics. Absentee Ballot vs. Mail-In Ballot: Is There A Difference? Ironically, because of the official renaming of the country, the dominant ethnic group is now known by its colloquial name, Bamar, rather than by its literary name, Myanmar in official Burmese usage.[2]. Former opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi at first opposed the new name "Myanmar", pointing out the hypocritical justification of inclusivity put forward by the regime. Citizens of Burma, regardless their ethnicity, are known as "Burmese", while the dominant ethnicity is called "Burman". [citation needed]. How to swear like a foul-mouthed Myanmar influencer, Before his moment arrived, Thar Sis may have been a soldier or a taxi driver. The Burmese puppet state set up by the Japanese occupation forces during the Second World War was officially called Bama. In the low tone, the final vowel "a" is lengthened. [21] In January 2011, during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the country at the United Nations, the delegate of Myanmar interrupted the delegate of the United States, who had begun her comments on human rights in Myanmar by "welcom[ing] the Burmese delegation to the UPR working group". [9], The United Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, endorsed the name change five days after its announcement. And that’s all for this week. Quite the opposite of being more inclusive, opposition parties and human rights groups contend that the new English name "Myanmar" is actually disrespectful of the minorities of Burma. Early usage of the English term Burma varies: In 1989, the military regime of Burma set up a commission in charge of reviewing the place names of Burma in the English language. Some English speakers have even coined the adjective "Myanmarese" or "Myanmese", to follow English rather than Burmese grammatical rules. What is it? How about becoming a content partner? While Burma was the formal title used by the Australian government, the Labor government revised the national name to the Union of Myanmar in 2012. Second, the commission thought that the name Myanma was more inclusive of minorities than the name Bama, and wanted the English name of the country to reflect this. Although the middle of the front side of this stone is damaged, the first line of the better-protected reverse side clearly shows မြန်မာပြည် ("Mranma kingdom"). Thus, for instance, Rangoon was changed to Yangon to reflect the fact that the "r" sound is no longer used in Standard Burmese and merged with a "y" glide.[9]. Why Do “Left” And “Right” Mean Liberal And Conservative? In English, the official name chosen for the country at the time of independence was "Burma". “Affect” vs. “Effect”: Use The Correct Word Every Time. But back to Thar Sis. The stone is from the reign of Kyaswa, (1234-1250) son of King Htilominlo (Nadaungmya), Bagan. အယ်​လဲ့.. သားစစ်​ ​ခွေး နဲ့ စကား​ပြောတာ မမြင်​ဖူးရင်​ ကြည်​့ထားးး???????? Area: 676 577 sq km (261 228 sq miles), The Author Of The Summer's Hit Paranoid Fantasy Opens Up, How China Used Drones to Capture a Notorious Burmese Drug Lord. [23], Media usage is also mixed. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition Burma definition: → Myanmar : name still in popular use | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples It’s merely to inform those who are not aware of some crucial words in a ‘knowledge is power’ kind of way. It’s also a top-tier swear word, used as an adjective as well as a standalone noun, and a handy term to keep in mind for when life gives you lemons. Did you ever collect all those state quarters? [28], In June 2014, the Australian government, led by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, continued a long-running discussion on the manner in which Australian officials would refer to the Southeast Asian nation. "[29], In April 2016, soon after taking office, Aung San Suu Kyi clarified that foreigners are free to use either name, "because there is nothing in the constitution of our country that says that you must use any term in particular".[30]. See Franco Maria Messina, [rtsp://webcast.un.org/ondemand/conferences/unhrc/upr/10th/hrc110127am1-eng.rm?start=01:54:41&end=01:58:26 United States intervention], Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Why This Beautiful Country Is Known by Two Names", "Is it 'Burma' or 'Myanmar'? [citation needed] To reflect this, in the 1989 government renaming the adjectival form of the country's name "Myanmar" is formed by dropping the final "r" to get "Myanma" (since the final "r" indicates lengthening in Oxford English). According to the renaming, the name of the dominant ethnicity of Burma, whose people speak the Burmese language, is "Bamar" (again, final "r" only added to denote a long "a" in Burmese). Official language: Burmese. It can be paired with the word “nga” to coin the term “nga loe” meaning “I fuck.” Another variant is “nga loe ma thar,” a strange way of saying, “the son of the woman I fucked,” boiled down as, “my son.”. [27], Another approach taken by some historians is to continue to use the name "Burma" for describing the history of the country prior to the 1988 military coup and "Myanmar" from there on. He was pursued by law-enforcement officials from Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and China. The Vietnamese (Miến Điện) is derived from the same term. Both names derive ultimately from the endonym of the largest ethnic group in Burma, the Bamar people, also known as Bama or Burmans in the spoken register and Mranma or Myanma in the literary register. Religion: Buddhist majority. Just over a year ago, a man wearing large sunglasses and a stripy orange and white vest filmed himself violently shouting swear words that you are about to learn. In Assamese the country is known as মান দেশ (Maan dex) since the time when the 1st Ahom king Sukapha crossed Patkai hills to come to Assam valley from Myanmar. This form remains in contemporary usage in abbreviations; for example, the World War II-era Burma-Thailand Railway is still referred to almost exclusively as the Tai-Men Tetsudō (泰緬鉄道). Who Is The “Jack” In The Term “Jack-o’-lantern,” Anyway? [citation needed], While use of the name "Myanmar" is widespread and rivals the use of "Burma", adoption of adjectival forms has been far more limited; in general, terms in use before 1989 have persisted. For those taking the ‘guide’ part of this guide seriously, here are a few expletives Thar Sis omitted: “La khwan” or “la khwee” is a milder choice for “lee”—the “crap” to lee’s “shit” if you will. At present it is in Bagan recorded as stone number 43 in the Archaeological Department's collection.[8]. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins With the sheer volume of Internet stars shooting across the sky these days, it’s hard to keep track. His work has also been featured in Nikkei Asian Review, Vice, South China Morning Post, Frontier, and ArtAsiaPacific. In the 1930s, the left-wing independence parties favoured the name Bama, as they thought this name was more inclusive of minorities than Myanma. After tiring, Thar Sis and his sidekick—the whiny background voice you hear at 2:10 minutes—say, “sit!” (it’s not a swear word but… “htine!”) to one of the dogs, who instead leaps up. The American delegate continued her comments on human rights violations in Myanmar, without using either name for the country. According to the Scottish orientalist Henry Yule (Hobson-Jobson: The Italian linguist Franco Maria Messina writes about it: «The Burmese language, the language spoken by the Bama people, presents the linguistic phenomenon known as diglossia: that is to say that two languages coexist in one, a high language, "H", and a low, spoken, more popular, language, "L". [25][26], Some other sources, including NPR in the US use terms such as "Myanmar, also known as Burma". If you’ve seen this gem floating about in your Facebook Watch, you’re a pretty nasty person. a republic in SE Asia, on the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea: unified from small states in 1752; annexed by Britain (1823–85) and made a province of India in 1886; became independent in 1948. In the decades preceding independence, independence parties were in search of a name for the new country to be born, which would be made up not only of Burmese-speaking people, but also of many minorities. The first one is just used in religious ceremonies and in written official documents, while the second is in use every day». During the 2005 ASEAN summit in Thailand, the Foreign Minister Nyan Win complained about the US insistence of calling his country "Burma" instead of "Myanmar" as it was renamed more than a decade ago. However, in variants of English in which final "r" is pronounced, such as standard American English, adding this final "r" leads to a pronunciation very different from the Burmese pronunciation. The choice of names stems from the existence of two different names for the country in Burmese, which are used in different contexts. [22] On 19 November 2012, US President Barack Obama, accompanied by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her second visit to the country, referred to the nation as both Myanmar and Burma. [citation needed] King Mindon in the mid-19th century was the first to refer to himself as the king of the 'Myanma people', in an attempt to ethnicise his rule, at a time when his rule was largely confined to the Irrawaddy Valley and the Myanmar ethnic group. [7] The earliest record discovered of the word was in a Mon inscription dated 1102, inside which the name was spelled Mirma. An adjective, adverb and sometimes used in continuous form, “lee” can often be heard as “lee phyit nay lar” meaning “are you being a dick?”, The heavy implication here is that the person is behaving in an unacceptable manner, as, naturally, only a “lee” can be a “lee.”. Mississippi’s nickname comes from the magnificent trees that grow there. The country known in English as both Myanmar and Burma has undergone changes in both its official and popular names worldwide. Finally, a lot of criticism also focused on the lack of linguistic soundness of the reform.