Pink Headed duck radio programme (1 Viewer)

[Richard D]

BBC Radio 4 - The Untold, Quest for the Pink-Headed Duck

Can Richard prove the beautiful - and possibly extinct - bird is still out there?

www.bbc.co.uk

Worth a listen - I found the searcher's refusal to acknowledge Burma has been Myanmar for a number of years irritating, but I think if there is any hope for a fragmentary population remaining he is probably lookng in the right place.

 

[Steve Lister]

Burmese Collared-Dove has just been split from so Burma still exists there too.
Birdlife had an expedition there a few years ago searching for the ducks and one of the team - just one - was convinced he saw one in flight.

 

[Farnboro John]

BBC Radio 4 - The Untold, Quest for the Pink-Headed Duck

Can Richard prove the beautiful - and possibly extinct - bird is still out there?

www.bbc.co.uk

Worth a listen - I found the searcher's refusal to acknowledge Burma has been Myanmar for a number of years irritating, but I think if there is any hope for a fragmentary population remaining he is probably lookng in the right place.

What they call it doesn't matter, viz Germany, Holland, Norway......

John

 

[Richard D]

What they call it doesn't matter, viz Germany, Holland, Norway......

John

It doesn't really matter, I just found it irritating that he used a name no longer in UK common usage since the UN adopted Myanmar.

 

[Farnboro John]

It doesn't really matter, I just found it irritating that he used a name no longer in UK common usage since the UN adopted Myanmar.

I'm not sure it's not in UK common usage, the common people of the UK are extraordinarily resistant to change. And conflating UN adoption with UK common usage is absurd: you must really mean official usage. The UN deals with places Brits have never heard of at all, and most Brits who have heard of Burma will think of it in terms of the Burma railway, Burma Star association and so on.

I like to think I'm fairly well up on country names (I'm rubbish at flags though) and I regularly have to pull myself up for saying Burma when I mean Myanmar.

John

 

[DMW]

The name Myanmar was invented by the military junta for their own political reasons and I can see no reason to stop calling it Burma in the English language. It isn't something Burmese people are bothered about in the slightest in my experience - they have rather more important issues to worry about.

 

[Andy Lakin]

Got this bookmarked sounds interesting. The BBC Sounds app is fantastic after it had initial teething problems. It's a shame more people don't know about the app. The range of topics covered is vast with loads of interesting programmes on the environment/ nature etc. On of the things like is because it is the BBC they put different sides of the debate forward where appropriate. Is there a thread on here to recommend podcasts/ radio shows? (for some weird reason I can't search for things on my phone).

 

[Richard D]

The name Myanmar was invented by the military junta for their own political reasons and I can see no reason to stop calling it Burma in the English language. It isn't something Burmese people are bothered about in the slightest in my experience - they have rather more important issues to worry about.

No Myanmar Pi is and always has been the formal written name - it wasn't invented. Bama is the colloquial spoken name.

 

[Richard D]

Got this bookmarked sounds interesting. The BBC Sounds app is fantastic after it had initial teething problems. It's a shame more people don't know about the app. The range of topics covered is vast with loads of interesting programmes on the environment/ nature etc. On of the things like is because it is the BBC they put different sides of the debate forward where appropriate. Is there a thread on here to recommend podcasts/ radio shows? (for some weird reason I can't search for things on my phone).

I've not seen such a thread - but good idea.

 

[THE_FERN]

No particular reason why English speakers should adopt any particular "official" name. For example, Spanish speakers don't call my country "England" ("Inglaterra") or "Great Britain" ("Gran Bretaña") or "United Kingdom" ("Reino Unido": although they do use translations of those terms); same applies to French speakers etc. Wikipedia entry for Myanmar states "also known as Burma" in its opening sentence and cites political nature of official name.

 

[Richard D]

No particular reason why English speakers should adopt any particular "official" name. For example, Spanish speakers don't call my country "England" ("Inglaterra") or "Great Britain" ("Gran Bretaña") or "United Kingdom" ("Reino Unido": although they do use translations of those terms); same applies to French speakers etc. Wikipedia entry for Myanmar states "also known as Burma" in its opening sentence and cites political nature of official name.

I think it's that Burma is very much a colonial name (it's not a very good translation of the colloquial Bama) - you could continue to call Zimbabwe, Rhodesia but most people don't.

 

[Farnboro John]

I think it's that Burma is very much a colonial name (it's not a very good translation of the colloquial Bama) - you could continue to call Zimbabwe, Rhodesia but most people don't.

And India isn't?

John

 

[THE_FERN]

I think it's that Burma is very much a colonial name (it's not a very good translation of the colloquial Bama) - you could continue to call Zimbabwe, Rhodesia but most people don't.

Sort-of. See:

Names of Myanmar - Wikipedia.

...So "Burma" is closer to "Bama". I'm very unclear what the Burmese (not Myanma people for most English speakers, I suggest) would choose to call their country if they were free of the military dictatorship.

 

[DMW]

I think it's that Burma is very much a colonial name (it's not a very good translation of the colloquial Bama) - you could continue to call Zimbabwe, Rhodesia but most people don't.

I live in the Channel Islands, which the French call Les Isles Anglo-Normande. Nobody here thinks it's offensive, just as the Burmese don't find Burma offensive. Why are you so intent on being offended on their behalf? It seems rather patronising.

 

[Richard D]

I live in the Channel Islands, which the French call Les Isles Anglo-Normande. Nobody here thinks it's offensive, just as the Burmese don't find Burma offensive. Why are you so intent on being offended on their behalf? It seems rather patronising.

I didn't say I was offended - I said I found it irritating. I don't know where you get the idea I was offended.

 

[Richard D]

And India isn't?

John

I'd be equally mildly irritated if an ornithologist described a birds location as Madras rather than Chennai, or Allahabad rather than Prayagraj - yes some people may have an encyclopedic knowledge of former names and current names but not all of us. Birdlife International and the UN's conservation bodies use current official names - surely to avoid confusion it's best practise to use current official names for places? As I said it doesn't really matter, but I did find it mildly irritating not to follow the usual practice for international wildlife conservation

Sort-of. See:

Names of Myanmar - Wikipedia.

...So "Burma" is closer to "Bama". I'm very unclear what the Burmese (not Myanma people for most English speakers, I suggest) would choose to call their country if they were free of the military dictatorship.

The short lived elected (and I appreciate how democratic the process was is open to debate) government didn't ask the UN to reverse the change to Myanmar, so I think it correct for conservation bodies to continue to follow the UN.

...


Anyway there have been lots of comments on my aside (which was not a political point despite completely unwarranted assumptions) but has anyone got anything to say about the program, which was the purpose of this thread?

 

[Farnboro John]

I'd be equally mildly irritated if an ornithologist described a birds location as Madras rather than Chennai, or Allahabad rather than Prayagraj - yes some people may have an encyclopedic knowledge of former names and current names but not all of us. Birdlife International and the UN's conservation bodies use current official names - surely to avoid confusion it's best practise to use current official names for places? As I said it doesn't really matter, but I did find it mildly irritating not to follow the usual practice for international wildlife conservation




The short lived elected (and I appreciate how democratic the process was is open to debate) government didn't ask the UN to reverse the change to Myanmar, so I think it correct for conservation bodies to continue to follow the UN.

...


Anyway there have been lots of comments on my aside (which was not a political point despite completely unwarranted assumptions) but has anyone got anything to say about the program, which was the purpose of this thread?

You may have missed my point: India is still India, AFAIK to everybody. It's not Sind or any other variation.

Anyway, back to Pink-headed Duck: the new IBWO?

John

 

[THE_FERN]

Anyway, back to Pink-headed Duck: the new IBWO?

John

But even less "evidence" ?

 

[DMW]

I'd be equally mildly irritated if an ornithologist described a birds location as Madras rather than Chennai, or Allahabad rather than Prayagraj - yes some people may have an encyclopedic knowledge of former names and current names but not all of us. Birdlife International and the UN's conservation bodies use current official names - surely to avoid confusion it's best practise to use current official names for places? As I said it doesn't really matter, but I did find it mildly irritating not to follow the usual practice for international wildlife conservation




The short lived elected (and I appreciate how democratic the process was is open to debate) government didn't ask the UN to reverse the change to Myanmar, so I think it correct for conservation bodies to continue to follow the UN.

...


Anyway there have been lots of comments on my aside (which was not a political point despite completely unwarranted assumptions) but has anyone got anything to say about the program, which was the purpose of this thread?

If you hadn't opened your original post with your extremely mild, almost nonexistent minor irritation about use of the name Burma, then you wouldn't have attracted these comments

As for the the continued search for Pink-headed Duck, as FJ suggests, probably close to IBWO territory now. Most suitable wetlands in Burma have probably been surveyed by now, and it seems unlikely such a large, distinctive and edible bird could have remained hidden for so long. I suppose there's always the possibility of a Madagascar Pochard-like miracle, and good luck to anybody still looking.

 

[skutchia]

I'm not sure it's not in UK common usage, the common people of the UK are extraordinarily resistant to change. And conflating UN adoption with UK common usage is absurd: you must really mean official usage. The UN deals with places Brits have never heard of at all, and most Brits who have heard of Burma will think of it in terms of the Burma railway, Burma Star association and so on.

I like to think I'm fairly well up on country names (I'm rubbish at flags though) and I regularly have to pull myself up for saying Burma when I mean Myanmar.

John

Maybe Americans are just as resistant to change....I can't stop thinking about a Seinfeld episode where Elaine's boss Mr Peterman deserts his company to go and live in Myanmar (which will "always be Burma to me")....

Merry Christmas !