Bombay or Mumbai?

[OzzyKP]

I thought Bombay recently changed its name to Mumbai, but in the most recent issue of Time Magazine it uses Bombay and even says the city was formerly called Mumbai.

aneeshm?

[Pekka]

I haven't heard that they would have changed it back to Bombay? Time Magazine, I think, must be pretty damn sure this is right if they say so. If not, they're the biggest tools this month.

[Pekka]

I can't find Wiki knowing about this either..

[Japher]

then it doesn't exist

[OzzyKP]

btw, the Time article:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1205390,00.html

If you want to catch a glimpse of the new India, with all its dizzying promise and turbocharged ambition, then head to its biggest, messiest, sexiest city--Bombay. Home to 18.4 million people and counting, the city, formally known as Mumbai, is projected by 2015 to be the planet's...

[OzzyKP]

This article not only doesn't mention reverting the name back to Bombay but it says that Madras & Calcutta have changed their names too:

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060602/asp/jamshedpur/story_6300604.asp

“If Madras can become Chennai, Bombay Mumbai and Calcutta Kolkata, there is no reason why Patna cannot be called Patliputra. It will remind the world of our heritage as the place was not only the capital of the Magadh empire but also an important centre of Buddhism,” said R.R. Prasad, a retired university teacher.

[Japher]

You Say Mumbai, I Say Bombay--In 1995, Bombay, the name the British bestowed upon the city, was renamed in honor of the local incarnation of the Hindu goddess Parvati, "Mumba Devi." The city's name change (along with a host of others that hark back to its colonial past) was enforced by the ruling Shiv Sena, a Hindu fundamentalist party that eschews the presence of any other than the Marathi people, a glaring irony given that this is a city of immigrants; a cocktail influenced as much by the grand Gothic monuments left by the British as it is by the many cultures who've set up shop here. Although it's difficult to understand how goodwill can prevail in a city led by politicians bred on xenophobia, Mumbai's well-intentioned optimism and its social cosmopolitanism prevail, and most of Mumbai's English-speaking inhabitants still refer to it as Bombay.

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/mumbai/3476010001.html

Frommer's

[Winston]

but in the most recent issue of Time Magazine it uses Bombay and even says the city was formerly called Mumbai.

Home to 18.4 million people and counting, the city, formally known as Mumbai,

Ozzy, I think this mystery would disappear if your learned to distinguish between formerly and formally.

[OzzyKP]

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2006/5/26/lifefocus/14064589&sec=lifefocus

BOMBAY” is the dateline in a newspaper report on a cricket test match. Further down the same page, the scorecard is, however, headed MUMBAI. What is going on? Cannot the newspaper, The Times, speak with a clear, authoritative voice to sort matters out?

Evidently not. I guess the reporter, a man accustomed to getting his own way, said, “Look, I call it Bombay, always have.” And the sub-editor said, “My instructions are that the Indian authorities have renamed the city.”

Freddie Flintoff, the England captain, said in interview “Bombay”, as did Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain. And there the matter rests. People differ.

....

Footnote: For the third cricket test, The Times reported it as as from Bombay, with the scorecard from that city. The traditionalists won – this time. But Sky News covered the event from Mumbai. The Guardian plumped for Mumbai while The Independent stuck with Bombay. The Sunday Telegraph (whose editor was lately fired) voted for Mumbai, but the Daily Telegraph, part of the same newspaper group, stuck with Bombay.

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by Winston

but in the most recent issue of Time Magazine it uses Bombay and even says the city was formerly called Mumbai.

Home to 18.4 million people and counting, the city, formally known as Mumbai,

Ozzy, I think this mystery would disappear if your learned to distinguish between formerly and formally.

[Japher]

I had to read that three times to figure out what Winston was getting at.

[Winston]

Though I admit it has its advantages sometimes. Say, if you were to spend the night with a formally dressed lady.

[Pekka]

If the maps says it's Mumbai, it's Mumbai. Dated maps say it's Mumbai.

[RGBVideo]

Time Magazine, I think, must be pretty damn sure this is right if they say so.

Time Magazine stopped being a respectable news source around the time when it became a part of TimeWarner. These days, it's nothing but infotainment. They named some random rock/pop star as person of the person of the year few years ago FFS.

edit: on-topic: If a government elected by the Indian people want the city's name to be Mumbai, then we should call it Mumbai. I mean, it's not like it's much harder to spell or pronounce than "Bombay" or anything.

[Japher]

you think Bono is obscure