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> The first lemons came from East Asia, possibly southern China or Burma. (These days, some prefer to refer to Burma as Myanmar. I’ll try to stay out of that controversy here and stick to fruit.)

The Myanese (or Burmese if you prefer) have been calling it Myanmar in English since 1989 - I think just about everyone uses that except the US government nowadays don't they?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Myanmar



The name was changed by the ruling Junta, for whom there is little love. I can't speak for everyone in Myamar/Burma, but the many people I know there are entirely happy to be referred to as Burmese.


Really interesting! From that article:

“In the Myanmar language, Burma is known as Myanmar Pyi (မြန်မာပြည်). Myanmar Pyi is the written, literary name of the country, while Bama is the spoken name of the country. Burmese… has different levels of register, with sharp differences between literary and spoken language.”

English doesn’t have such distinctions, so that partly explains why we get so confused about the name.




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