>> I didn't hear one person at the Super Bowl refer to it as "Day-twaa" ;-) <<
Ha-ha! I can still never bring myself to say "Battn Rooj," though. New Orleans is one thing... they stuck the positively limey word, "new" in front of it, so how could I possibly say, "Noo ohrlah"? (The word, "N'ahrlins" breaks me up!)
Last winter, I was thinking of starting a "Torino Watch." Why? Katie Couric was broadcasting from the Salt Lake City Olympics, and she was looking forward to the next Winter Olympics, to be held in . . . "Torino," she said. Why she said "Torino," instead of good ol' Turin, is shrouded in mystery. Would-be sophisticates are always saying "Torino" instead of Turin and "Milano" instead of Milan. But, oddly, they don't say Roma — except "when in Rome," presumably — and they don't say "Venezia" (Venice), "Firenze" (Florence), or "Napoli" (Naples).
...
The story's complicated, but Bangkok, to Thais, is not merely "Bangkok." In fact, it's not "Bangkok" at all. The capital has a long, long formal name, and, to make matters even more interesting, the Thai language acknowledges no spaces between words (within a sentence or concept). So, I give you "Krungthepmahanakhonamonrattanakosinmahintharaayuthayamahadilokphopnoppharatratchathani buriromudomratchan iwetmahasathanamonpimanawatansathitsakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit."
SD