26 Moscows in the USA

http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-03-10/there-are-more-20-towns-america-called-moscow-why

Above is a link to a story about towns called Moscow in the United States.  I wrote the following letter to the World in Words podcast:

Ok, so there are 26 towns with the name of Moscow in the United States.  What about this question:  Why do we call them Moscow, and not Moskva?  How did the proper Russian pronunciation, which is not difficult for English speakers become corrupted and then stick?  You even went so far as to contemplate if the name was actually a descendant of “moss cow”, or “ma’s cow”.  You thought that some Russians in Pennsylvania may have been the founders of Moscow, Pennsylvania.  If true Russians named the town, why wouldn’t they name it Moskva?

One more thing…I wonder why we haven’t changed the name of the city? Beijing used to be Peking, Mumbai used to be Bombay.  These names seemed to have been changed from something more western to something that fits more with the local language.  Why hasn’t the same been done with Moscow?  Who decides which cities shall have a name change?  I could understand using a name like Moscow if the Russian version was especially difficult to pronounce.  But, Moskva presents no problems for English speakers.  What’s more, the Russian language doesn’t really have an /ow/ sound.  So it looks like the west chose a name that the natives cannot easily produce in their language.  Why?

Then you also talked about how some of the towns have changed their names in order to delete the Soviet feel to them:  Leningrad reverted to St. Petersburg, Stalingrad became Volgograd. It may be interesting to note that George Orwell’s Animal Farm ‘predicted’ such name changes, with the towns reverting back to their former names.  In the book, however, the revolution was still intact, unlike the real life scenario, so maybe it is not so interesting.

I love your show by the way…

Thanks,

James Martin

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To close out the show, the host played a clip of a truly hilarious country-western song that makes us Americans look extremely stupid...or uniquely humorous (if the singer is sarcastic--which I doubt).  I just followed a link by someone writing a comment to the World in Words site.  I'm happy to announce that it IS a parody and dripping with sarcasm.  Well done, 

Pinkard and Bowden  

Here is the youtube version of the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJB9fYMLALE