Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other langs

[clawgrip]

In Japanese, Orio station and the cities of Usa and Wakō spring to mind. Also Ichikawa-Mama Station is kind of amusing...but it has nothing to do with mothers.

[Drydic]

Along with the turkey thing we have the whole Dutch people are from Nederlands but German people are from Deutschland.

It's singular in Dutch Vikky, Nederland.

Nederlands is the name of the language. The plural of Nederland is Nederlanden.

I thought that might be the case, but it didn't really change my point (that there's no -s), so I didn't research further.

[finlay]

In Japanese, Orio station and the cities of Usa and Wakō spring to mind. Also Ichikawa-Mama Station is kind of amusing...but it has nothing to do with mothers.

There's always the city of Obama.

[Chuma]

The Dutch closest to England were the Netherlanders, so it's not surprising that the meaning of the term narrowed until it applied only to them.

I've heard that they were at war, and the English called them "Dutch" as an insult.

[Jashan]

Odd. I posted something on this thread about the Pennsylvania Dutch, and it's not here. But if I search the board for "Pennsylvania", or look for my own posts, it shows up. Can anyone else see it, or did my post get sucked into a black hole?

[finlay]

I read it earlier today, but it's not showing up anymore... weird.

[tykky]

Armenians call themselves Hayer, or Hay in the singular. There are two differently spelled English words that sound the same. In German, Hai means a shark.

The Georgian language is known in Georgian as Kartuli ena. In Estonian, kartul means a potato.

I like the idea of the Caucasus region being known as the Shark-potato-land. Don't you too?

[clawgrip]

To return to the turkey discussion...in Japanese, turkey is 七面鳥 shichimenchō, which means 'seven-faced bird'. The name apparently comes from the various colours on the turkey's head and neck.