How pleasing to find that the title below contains the word "Burma" rather than hideous Myanmar.  Burma should be the name. Wavell, Slim, Orde Wingate. The Burma Road.  And of course those Route 66 rhymes that always ended with "Burma Shave." Myanmar Shave will not do.

And while we are at it, we insist that Upper Volta be allowed to again become Upper Volta, shedding "Burkina Faso" (which makes one think of a fuse, or "fuso orario"), a name that in the local language means "strong man" while Upper Volta nicely locates the country in space. We've had quite enough of strong men in Africa.

And Sri Lanka -- that will have to go too. It's Ceylon. We won't insist on Serendip. We are reasonable.

And the names recently adopted for other parts of the world also need attention. Ho Chi Minh City is unacceptable, intolerable; Saigon needs to come back soon, not only because Ho Chi Minh should not be honored, but because Saigon better evokes the French theme -- Marguerite Duras and "L'Amant," with tinkles of "La Petite Tonkinoise" as sung by Josephine Bakairr in the background and, in the foreground, Marie Dubas or Edith Piaf singing "Mon Legionnaire."  

Today's a start. Today we have renaming of parts.