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Bangkok name change: It's all a change in punctuation


webfact

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1 hour ago, Dexxter said:

Telling my friends I am going to visit Bob for 3 weeks somehow does not quite sound the same. I think I will stick with Bangkok which they will better understand.

So tell them you're going to visit Susie or Sonia or whatever her name is

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54 minutes ago, johncat1 said:

Korat had it's name changed to Nakhon Ratchasima, but people, mainly Thais still call it Korat. this is very confusing to visitors as all the road signs  say Nakhon Ratchasima and not Korat. Bangkok will probably be the same. Thais will shorten the name, as they do now to  Krung Thep or stick with the easily recognised name of Bangkok. These office wallers have too much free time on their hands and are trying to justify their positions.

I don't know any Thai who calls the city Bangkok. They will usually just say krungthep and younger generations will refer to it as k.t.m (in Thai, of course).

 

As for korat:

Nakhon Ratchasima is one of the four major cities of Isan, Thailand, known as the "big four of Isan". The city is commonly known as Korat, a shortened form of its name.

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4 hours ago, webfact said:

They said people were at liberty to call the city whatever they liked.

Unfortunately I'm not at liberty to reveal how I choose to call that particular city on here since that would probably result in an extended posting holiday on here. Let's just say that it's that awful place that most of us Brits are, in theory, forced to go to in person not once but twice at passport renewal time (that said, there are, thankfully, agents around who will gladly spare us that particular ordeal at a price, of course).

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15 minutes ago, LukKrueng said:

The city is commonly known as Korat, a shortened form of its name.

 

Not sure that's true.  My understanding is that Korat comes from the Old Khmer angkor (capital city) raj (king).

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Many place names around the world that were Anglicised and used internationally have changed to be known by their previously known local names, such as Beijing (Peking), Kolcota (Calcutta), Yangon (Rangoon). 

 

I have always used either, depending who I am talking with and the context.  If travelling, I always ensure I can recognise the local version in the local language.  

 

In this case, I suspect that the locals with still refer to 'Bangkok' as 'Krung Thep' rather than 'Krung Thep Maha Nakhon', which is probably only for formal government use rather than using the full name. 

 

It would, however, be surprising if the 'Maha Nakhon' is added to road signsBangkok Ahead ⚠ Thai Highway Traffic Sign ⚠ Magnet | Zazzle.com in 2021 | Traffic  signs, Highway traffic, Bangkok

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