the confined nomad

Several factors went into our decision to eat Burmese rather than Myanma food.  We here at the Nomad have our fingers firmly on the pulse of geopolitics.  As a citizen of Great Britain – emphasis on the “Great” – I was strongly in favor of recognizing the colonial-era anglicism of the country’s name.  From 1886-1948, the Brits not only built schools, railroads and most importantly, prisons, but also exploited Burma for its abundant natural resources and relegated the Burmese people to third-class citizens beneath the Chinese and Indian workers who were brought in to accelerate integration with the rest of the Raj.  I say. Well done!  I certainly didn’t want our global influence as participants in the World Wide Web to go towards legitimizing the present corrupt military government.  Noquar, on the other hand, being a militaristic fascist at heart, argued that we should follow the UN and respect Myanmar’s self determination by using the junta’s Western phoneticization of the country’s name.  Since 1962, the junta has crushed dissent, destroyed the economy, and left its citizens nearly completely cut off from the international community. Boo, hiss!  Ultimately, the solomonic Nomad herself settled the debate by pointing out that, in fact, regardless of whether it’s spelled Burma or Myanmar in the Latin alphabet, its pronounced exactly the same way on the streets of Rangoon. Or is it Yangon?  Whatever, the most important determining factor for our alphabetic gymnastics was that the annual Myanmar (ignore them) Baptist Church Fun Fair was being held on the Saturday directly following our Burkina Faso mission.  Fun fair?  Yes, please. read more »