Them’s fighting words! The politics of place names

FILE - In this April 19, 2012 file photo, an anti-Japan protesters stands on the Rising Sun Flags of the former Imperial Japanese military and shouts slogan "Japan get out of Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku islands)" during a demonstration near the Japanese Consulate in Hong Kong. Some place names don’t just tell us where we live or where we’re going. They’re also a political statement, or in the eyes of some a politically incorrect one. They may not spark a war of the worlds, but a war of words they can. China struck back after Japan launched a verbal fusillade last week in August 2014, slapping monikers on 158 previously unnamed islands off its shores. Five of them are part of a cluster that the two both claim and is itself the subject of a name dispute. Is it the Senkaku or Diaoyu islands? (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File) FILE - In this April 19, 2012 file photo, an anti-Japan protesters stands on the Rising Sun Flags of the former Imperial Japanese military and shouts slogan "Japan get out of Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku islands)" during a demonstration near the Japanese Consulate in Hong Kong. Some place names don’t just tell us where we live or where we’re going. They’re also a political statement, or in the eyes of some a politically incorrect one. They may not spark a war of the worlds, but a war of words they can. China struck back after Japan launched a verbal fusillade last week in August 2014, slapping monikers on 158 previously unnamed islands off its shores. Five of them are part of a cluster that the two both claim and is itself the subject of a name dispute. Is it the Senkaku or Diaoyu islands? (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

By Associated Press August 6, 2014 6 min read

TOKYO (AP) – Is it the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf? Mount McKinley or Denali? Mumbai or Bombay?

Some geographic names don’t just tell us where we live or where we’re going. They’re also a political statement, or in the eyes of some, a politically incorrect one. They may not spark a war of the worlds, but they can cause a war of words.

China struck back last week after Japan slapped monikers on 158 previously unnamed islands off its shores. Five of them are part of a cluster that both nations claim and is itself the subject of a name dispute: Is it the Senkaku or the Diaoyu islands?

“No unilateral action undertaken by Japan can change the fact that Diaoyu and its surrounding islands belong to China,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said, using his country’s name for the remote tropical islands in the East China Sea.

One of the most cited examples, probably because of the vitriol that ensued, is a 1970s feud over Cyprus that played out in a United Nations forum. It started after Turkey occupied the northern part of the Mediterranean island, and replaced Greek names for villages with Turkish ones.