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What’s wrong with this map?
The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet recently published a very large, very cool map of the spread of bird flu. The least cool thing about it, though, is the fact that Slovenia and Croatia have been unwillingly fused together. (Not for the first time, I should add.)
It would be easier to forgive the mapmakers if they hadn’t taken such obvious pains outlining little Luxembourg. But I suppose we can all be thankful that they didn’t commit the cardinal sin — unlike certain other newspapers, like the major Turkish daily Zaman, which recently reported an outbreak of bird flu in Slovakia as happening here. A (chicken) pox on them!
(Tack Vesna!)
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How nice. In the Time 2000 Almanac there’s a similar mistake … well, not quite. In the book, there’s a short description of every country, including a history section. In the article on Slovenia, the history part is written totally wrong: evidently, the authors mistakened the old (pre-WWI) denomination for Croatia (Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia) interpreting it as Croatia and Slovenia. Thus, they wrote we had been united with Croatia since the 9th century, that we were under Hungarian, Turkish and then again Hungarian rule… in short, the history of Slavonia (only with a different ending: that we got independent in 1991).
If Slavonia ever breaks off from Croatia and declares independence, I’m going to have to commit ritualistic suicide. I don’t want to live in that world and read its newspapers.
Michael, if Slavonia breaks from Croatia i hope they will follow the "name" tradition and above all have also a similar flag to Slovenia and Slovakia…
Matty: That would be the final nail in the coffin. I think we’re safe for now, though, if this is the historic one, and this(?) is the current one.
If Slavonia declares independence from Croatia, I propose that Slovenia, Slovakia and Slavonia form a confederated state of Slovevavonikia :)))
A frind of mine actually recieved snail mail, that was routerd through Slovakia and Slavonia, by mistake obviousely.
Regarding post, I can understand how it can go via Slovakia, or even Slavonia, but one letter from my college took over six months to arrive and it had been rerouted from Sierra Leone! (Of course it doesn’t help much that my college insist on writing SL-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, given that SL is the code of Sierra Leone …)I’m just glad it was only a silly letter wishing me luck in my ‘A-levels’, and that the important letters, such as the interview invitation and the offer of a place, were much more timely in comparison. It’s funny how post from Slovenia to the UK takes about a week, whereas the other way round almost invariably takes a fortnight at least …
I’m hoping to move to Sluvenia, the newest (so new, the Sluvenians don’t even know it) splintered republicin the Balkans. If you ask me where it is, I’ll be forced ot shrug my shoulders and mumble its national anthem. I’m sure once the EU has recognized Sluvenia, it won’t be long before Slevenia and Slivenia show up at the UN’s doorstep, tin cups in hand, asking for a drop of recognition.Until that happens, I’ll be caling my travel agent and booking a flight to Pengovsky’s Slovevavonikia. If nothing else, a sweatshirt with that country’s name emblazoned on the front would be well worth a visit.As far as newspapers are concerned, Michael, Sluvenia is past that finger-darkening method of communication. The Sluvenian Minister of Information has outlawed all neewspapers and magazines. Any communication necessary will be done via billboards. Large print reading is a cornerstone of the Sluvenian constitution.You may have noticed the "u" in Sluvenia is always emboldened. That is the official spelling. The Sluvenians, while draconian in their treatment of printed matte, are quite committted to fonts and the miracles of font treatment. An "u" is a deeper sounding version of "u", as pronunciation is an effective way of distnguishing foreigners, like say those quaint folks in Slovenia or Slovakia.Whichever.
Alex: "but one letter from my college took over six months to arrive and it had been rerouted from Sierra Leone!"Seems to be a common mistake. This is exactly what happend with a letter sent to me from Norway.
Actually… territorially speaking this union wouldn’t be half bad. Think aboutit: almost all natural splendors ex-Yu had to offer (The Alps + East Adriatic coast with it’s countless islands). Cro-venia would sure be a beautiful country.
not only is the map slightly askew, my language sense tells me the caption entitled france (well, frankrike) probably says france was the first eu land to get the flu. i’m not entirely sure what to think of this - on a strange level i’m slightly upset about the newspaper not recognising slovene primacy about the flu…
on the topic of crovenia - i seem to remember there was some discussion in 1990 as to whether slovenia and croatia should form a federative union and separate from yugoslavia in that form, so it could well have been. not sure whether it would last, though…
Cornelius,Wasn’t Greece the first EU country to get the bird flu several months ago? We wouldn’t want to take that honor away from them, would we?
@Cornelius, AZ2SI:Romania was the first one, already in October.
The state of New Mexico has the same kind of problem as Slovenia. The Albuquerque newspaper used to have a regular column where people wrote in about their encounters with fellow Americans who were surprised they could speak English, told them they needed visas to rent a car, etc.
Luka,Romania isn’t in the EU (yet).
Ooops, right, silly me
I lived at one time in New Mexico, and yes I can attest to the constant questioning of my ‘Americaness’ New Mexico is the most Balkans state in the U.S. not by population, very few actual Balkans people, barring Greeks, but the cultural diveristy of New Mexico, and it’s mountains are a lot like in BiH at least.I sent a letter to Ireland from Santa Fe to the Gaelic League organization in Dublin, requesting matierials to learn Irish. Well that letter went to Spain and wandered around there collecting really cool cancellations until some smart Spaniard realized that New Mexico was in the U.S.! It took about three months all told to get that reply letter.On another occasion I called someone Irish American in San Francisco, in regard to a news story, (back before blogging and internet as an indoor sport) Anyway she wanted my address, so I told her my address in Yakima, and she said with an ‘A’ or an ‘I’ I told her ‘I’ well the Yakama Nation had just reverted to the old spelling so what happened was I sat for a long time explaining that there was the Yakama Nation, a Native American tribe, and the city where anyone at all might live.Did i mention Irish people are really fascinated with Indians?
Well, the South Tyroleans apparently think that there is a Greater Serbia: http://www.suedtirol.info/Sinfo/EntryPage/Karte.gif
Ha, ha, … and Greater Slovenia, too (we have Istria and Trieste). Sehr gut.
My family (GF & GM) immigrated to the USA in the early 1900s…
They claimed Croatian Ancestry…
But their Village of VINICA, is NOW in Slovenia…
Was VINICA ever part of CROATIA?
jvtjr: the border at Vinica is quite old, so I wouldn’t think so, however, the border is 5 metres away, so it’s nothing special being a Croat from Vinica.
“Bela krajina” probably named by roman name for Gorjanci mons alba -white mountains was become part of carniola in 12 century.(by the war raid of carniolan nobility)
Greg