For the pedants

[johnny_t]

From Wikipedia....

History

The country was originally known in English as Ivory Coast, and corresponding translations in other languages: Côte-d'Ivoire in French, Elfenbeinküste in German, Costa de Marfil in Spanish, Norsunluurannikko in Finnish, Pantai Gading in Indonesian, Ivoorkust in Dutch, Costa d'Avorio in Italian, Elefántcsontpart in Hungarian and so on. In October 1985 the government requested that the country be known as Côte d'Ivoire in every language, without the hyphen, contravening the standard rule in French that geographical names with several words must be written with hyphens.
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Usage

Despite the Ivorian government's ruling, "Ivory Coast" (sometimes "the Ivory Coast") is still used in English. Governments, however, use "Côte d'Ivoire" for diplomatic reasons. The English country name registered with the United Nations and adopted by ISO 3166 is "Côte d'Ivoire". Journalistic style guides usually (but not always) recommend "Ivory Coast":

* The Guardian newspaper's Style Guide says: "Ivory Coast, not "the Ivory Coast" or "Côte D'Ivoire"; its nationals are Ivorians"
* The BBC usually uses "Ivory Coast" both in news reports and on its page about the country [1].
* The Economist newsmagazine's Style Guide says "Côte d'Ivoire not Ivory Coast".
* The United States Department of State uses "Côte d'Ivoire" in formal documents, but uses "Ivory Coast" in many general references, speeches and briefing documents [2].
* Encyclopædia Britannica uses "Côte d'Ivoire".
* ABC News, The Times, the New York Times and SABC all use "Ivory Coast" either exclusively or predominantly.
* Rand-McNally Millenium World Atlas uses "Côte d'Ivoire".
* FIFA uses Côte d'Ivoire when referring to their national football team in international games and in official broadcasts.

 

[johnny_t]

No, 'cus the government formally requested to the UN they be called and nothing else!

So in that case then, its not really an exonym, but just the old name for the country, a bit like calling Zimbabwe 'Rhodesia'.

However, from what I can gather, they just said one day that they don't want to be called 'Ivory Coast' anymore and that everyone must call them 'Cote d'Ivoire' in future.

Now, if I suddenly announced that I no longer wanted to be called Johnny, as in Carson, but instead be called Johnny, as in Halliday, I know what the response would be.......

 

[notb665]

No, 'cus the government formally requested to the UN they be called and nothing else!

So in that case then, its not really an exonym, but just the old name for the country, a bit like calling Zimbabwe 'Rhodesia'.

However, from what I can gather, they just said one day that they don't want to be called 'Ivory Coast' anymore and that everyone must call them 'Cote d'Ivoire' in future.

Now, if I suddenly announced that I no longer wanted to be called Johnny, as in Carson, but instead be called Johnny, as in Halliday, I know what the response would be.......

Hmm, it is an exonym AND the old name then, as the locals don't call it what we do, and that means an exonym.

 

[johnny_t]

Maybe (I don't actually know the answer, but it was you that set up a thread for pedants).

Do exonyms have to be officially sanctioned in some way ? For example, I could call Zimbabwe 'Rhodesia' and I wouldn't be calling it what the locals do, but would it actually be an exonym ?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

However, from what I can gather, they just said one day that they don't want to be called 'Ivory Coast' anymore and that everyone must call them 'Cote d'Ivoire' in future.

And that is French for...... ?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I believe the convention is that when a place has a common name in (e.g.) English, then it is "correct" to use that when speaking to other English people. Munich, Paris, Holland, Ivory Coast, Germany, El-Alamein, Moscow, Brittany, Bavaria..

Peking?
Bombay?

 

[notb665]

However, from what I can gather, they just said one day that they don't want to be called 'Ivory Coast' anymore and that everyone must call them 'Cote d'Ivoire' in future.

And that is French for...... ?

Nothing. It would be "Côte-d'Ivoire". Spot the difference, ban all sheds.

 

[johnny_t]

However, from what I can gather, they just said one day that they don't want to be called 'Ivory Coast' anymore and that everyone must call them 'Cote d'Ivoire' in future.

And that is French for...... ?

Is this a trick question.....

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Ignoring the rule about hyphenated country names, and if it were lower case, "ivory coast" translated to French would be...... ?

 

[johnny_t]

Ignoring the rule about hyphenated country names, and if it were lower case, "ivory coast" translated to French would be...... ?

still can't help suspecting there's a sting in the tail of this question, given the answer's so bleeding obvious, but I'll stick my toe in the water - Cote d'Ivoire.

 

[notb665]

Ignoring the rule about hyphenated country names, and if it were lower case, "ivory coast" translated to French would be...... ?

I am being pedantic, innit!

Also, 'Ivory Coast' could mean 'Coast which is ivory in colour', whereas 'Coast of Ivory' cannot mean that, it would mean 'Coast where you get elephant's tusks by detaching them from said elephant' (adjective/noun argument).

Whichever way you look at it, "Côte-d'Ivoire" is the proper name. lol lol lol lol lol *sighs*.

 

[johnny_t]

Here's a question for y'all then, as it still strikes an unpleasant chord with me.

About a year ago, I was playing Trivial Pursuit and one of the questions was about an event in the 70s or 80s, to which I answered 'Russia', but it was disallowed because the answer on the card was 'USSR' even though I protested that they were largely synonymous, like 'Holland' and 'Netherlands'.

Later on, someone else was asked what country the Deer Hunter was set in and they answered Cambodia. I said it should be disallowed because the card said Kampuchea, but everyone else insisted that its should be allowed because they are the same country (or Cambodia is an exonym, as I've learnt today).

Now they were obviously ganging up on me as I'm the cleverest, but should I have been allowed my bit of cheese ?

 

[notb665]

I would've allowed it, because I don't punish people for being stupid! If you are the cleverest you should've said USSR, shouldn't you?!?! People say 'Holland' when they mean 'The Netherlands'. Grrr.

 

[johnny_t]

If you are the cleverest you should've said USSR, shouldn't you?!?!

Maybe I was dumbing it down so my fellow players could understand. No point being clever if you can't communicate to others, is there?

 

[notb665]

If you are the cleverest you should've said USSR, shouldn't you?!?!

Maybe I was dumbing it down so my fellow players could understand. No point being clever if you can't communicate to others, is there?

I like that. I shall use that. lol.