OK, so check this out; The country we call Greece is actually called Hellas, Finland is Suomi, Hungary is Magyarorzag, Japan is Nippon, China is Chung Kuo, Germany is Deutschland, Switzerland is Schweiz, La Suisse, Svizzera, Helvetia or Confoederatio Helvetica (CH). Our country, The United States of America, USA is abbreviated as EEUU in the Latin American press (?!?!). When the USA first acquired Puerto Rico it was called Porto Rico because of one individuals spelling mistake, the official name of the territory was this misspelling for several years. The 13 original colonies that became the USA were originally called Columbia (sometimes spelled Colombia). Up to 100+- years ago, the female personification of the USA was a character named Columbia, today it is Lady Liberty. Most native speakers of the English language do not differentiate when pronouncing Colombia and Columbia, it sounds the same. The proper noun, Colombia, Columbia has a long history in the USA, before the South American country even existed. Sometimes, (very rarely) the South American country Colombia is spelled Columbia and Colombians get very offended, they shouldnt. To paraphrase Willy The Shake: if I call a rose Ralph it would still smell nice.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 14:39:40 +0000
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