"Kyiv not Kiev !" - by Hénock Gugsa

"Kyiv not Kiev !" *
- by Hénock Gugsa -

Kinda reminds me of ... in the early 70's Nixon, while enmeshed in the Watergate mess, went to China ... a first for an American President.  So, then, we all had to learn not to say "Peking" anymore ... the correct (i.e. phonetically) way to say Beijing !   

Americans and Brits have always been lousy with names ... how to say them and even how to write them.  For example, even now, American soldiers in the Middle East pronounce Iraq as "Ay-rack" , and Iran as "Ay-ran".  There is not even an effort to ask Iraqis or Iranians for the correct pronunciations of the names.  I don't know if it is laziness or ineptness!
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*Inspired by the following article in the Atlantic: "Kyiv-not-Kiev-why-spelling-matters-in-ukraines-quest-for-an-independent-identity".