Fall of the Berlin Wall Question:

Good question. I had barely turned 25 years old when that happened. As I recall the East Germans announced that it was now legal to travel to West Germany, and the East Germans impulsively knocked holes in the Berlin Wall and went across. They did some sightseeing and then went home. What the original government intention was remains unknown. In retrospect it seems somewhat rigged.

How nice it is to find someone on the Internet who acknowledges that West Germany existed. A few years ago I argued with someone on another website who claimed that there never was a country called West Germany.

And on still another website someone claimed that no one died as a result of the Cold War.





"I hear no voice. The dead cannot speak."

Technically, there never was a country called "West Germany". While West Germany was the usual term for it, the official name was the Federal Republic of Germany (in German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland), the current name for the entire country. Similarly, East Germany's official name was not "East Germany" but the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik).

Technically, yes, but I have a friend from there and she called it West Germany, along with everyone else. DK if the East Germans called their country East Germany or something else.






"I hear no voice. The dead cannot speak."

Technically, yes, but I have a friend from there and she called it West Germany, along with everyone else.
Which is why I said the usual name was West Germany.

Which is why I said the usual name was West Germany.

Okay.

I was going to ask you if there was ever a country called Burma, but I guess I won't now. 







"I hear no voice. The dead cannot speak."

Well Myanmar's official name in English (and probably several other languages) was Burma until 1989.

On a radio show recently there was a woman from Myanmar as the guest, and although the American host kept calling it Myanmar, she kept calling it Burma (also known as Myanmar).




"I hear no voice. The dead cannot speak."

The governments aside, I suppose that's like the post-colonial African nations changing their names to a more appropriate (in their minds anyway) native name.

Was (is?) Myanmar an ancient/older name for what has become Burma?