I guess I live under a rock

[Allen]

Seems like every day I'm hearing of a country that I'm unfamiliar with. I know names change and there are 195 countries in the world, many being like states here.

I admit I don't keep up with it but I didn't realize that Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were among those that no longer exist, being split up into other countries. That's where some of the "new" names have come from.

There's plenty of others but I believe these are the most recent having taken place back in the 90's.

I guess production of the Yugo was enough to finish off Yugoslavia.

[lyman]

yugo broke up in the 90's,

my brother from another mother got the pleasure of being deployed there during that conflict, based in Hungary, and crossed the border almost every day,

[Phloating Phlasher]

I've actually been expelled from a country that no longer exists (Czechoslovakia) by a regime that no longer exists, (The USSR).
I was installing photographing film processing equipment that Britain had gifted to the Technical School (now the The Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava "S.T.U."), there, trying to wean them off of Communism in the Bratislava complex when the Soviets decided to "visit" in the late summer of 1968.
I outlived both of them!

[JohnMOhio]

Unless your Croatian or Chek you would not have heard of the split. My family background is from Croatia. Had family there during the breakup. Serbian tanks came down the road and blew up homes on each side of the road. That area where my family came from had multi nationalities and a farming community. The house was built by my Grandfather. Very interesting construction. I was there in 1988 for a visit. Took my Dad and my daughter as he was getting up in years and not likely to see his sisters again. I managed to take photos but have since mislaid them. The barn was the most interesting. No nails. Just pegs holding everything together. Also it still had a thatched roof. The farming was stopped when Grandpa passed away I believe in the 60's. What was left of the family lived in Zagreb, a major city.

The most interesting part of the house was that the kitchen was in the center of the house with bedrooms on either side. The house was heated by a wood stove and the stack went into the attic. I went up there to look around and found that the attic was used to smoke the meat. The hooks for hanging the meat were still there. I also found a "tree" (spelling/name?) used to hook up to the plow. My Grandfather scratched his last name on it. It is somewhere in the house. I managed to get it into one of our large suitcases for our return trip home.

[PWC]

Phlasher and John great stories!

[Allen]

Back when this was going on I was working 12hr rotating shifts which occupied 15hrs a day counting prep and the drive. Our off days were usually spent sleeping to prepare for the shift change when we returned. Unfortunately we were forced in for O/T so most of us were zombies. TV time and news wasn't a part of our lives working like this so I misses a lot.

[JB White]

Czechoslovakia became the Czech Republic after the fall of the Iron Curtain. OK, I got that but it took a while for me getting used to it.
Then they changed the name again. Or perhaps it only changed in American English??
Now it’s Czechnia, which I confused with Chechnya.
I passed on an eBay transaction because I wasn’t going to risk Chechens getting ahold of my CC#.

[Phloating Phlasher]

Not quite. The former "Czechoslovakia" split into "Slovakia" & "The Czech Republic".
"Chechnya" is a former "Soviet Republic" with a similar name.

It was a forgone thing IMO, the city of Bratislava was on the border of the new states but ling before it was 2 distinct places with a shared name only. For example one side of town had signage in English letters, the other in Cyrillic.
I remember going out to eat one night before the "10-Day Free, gratis & for nothing Trial of Communism" I asked for a good restaurant, I was told it was "restoran" as spoken. I looked for ever, sometimes following my nose but never found one. Then it was explained to me that In Cyrillic it was "ресторан" How was I supposed to know to ask for a "Pektopah"

[Allen]

Best just to stay at home. Let them bicker about their language.

[JB White]

Not quite. The former "Czechoslovakia" split into "Slovakia" & "The Czech Republic".
"Chechnya" is a former "Soviet Republic" with a similar name.

It was a forgone thing IMO, the city of Bratislava was on the border of the new states but ling before it was 2 distinct places with a shared name only. For example one side of town had signage in English letters, the other in Cyrillic.
I remember going out to eat one night before the "10-Day Free, gratis & for nothing Trial of Communism" I asked for a good restaurant, I was told it was "restoran" as spoken. I looked for ever, sometimes following my nose but never found one. Then it was explained to me that In Cyrillic it was "ресторан" How was I supposed to know to ask for a "Pektopah"

You say “Not quite” then simply rephrase what I said?

I had two sets of Czech neighbors who called it Czech Republic or simply The Czech in casual conversation.
I know what Chechnya is and what Chechens are know for.
BTW it’s now an autonomous state within Russia following the nasty little rebellion not too long ago.

My point was the Czechs are now using yet another name in English and I confused the two since I wasn’t aware of the more recent name change.

[Phloating Phlasher]

And my point is its not a "NEW" name, just an alternate one.

The country has been traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia (Čechy) in the west, Moravia (Morava) in the east, and Czech Silesia (Slezsko; the smaller, south-eastern part of historical Silesia, most of which is located within modern Poland) in the northeast.[27] Known as the lands of the Bohemian Crown since the 14th century, a number of other names for the country have been used, including Czech/Bohemian lands, Bohemian Crown, Czechia, and the lands of the Crown of Saint Wenceslaus. When the country regained its independence after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918, the new name of Czechoslovakia was coined to reflect the union of the Czech and Slovak nations within one country.

My emphasis added.

[JB White]

That’s all fine and dandy, but it’s off on a tangent from what I originally said.
Take note. You spelled it Czechia with a CZ. I was referring to a different spelling.
CH and not CZ. Czechia vs Chechnia. Easy to see how it can be confused with Chechnya.
Had it been spelled with a CZ I would have seen something was different immediately but gathered what they meant.
In my lifetime it was called Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic.
Czechia or Chechnia was “new” to ME. WAS new to me. But I had already familiarized myself with that before I posted in this thread.

And that was the gist of it.
keeping in line with the context of the OP.

[S.A. Boggs]

I was born in the State of Confusion and can't use my passport anywhere else.
Sam

[Allen]

I was born in the State of Confusion and can't use my passport anywhere else.
Sam

One of those 57 states obama used to speak of.

[JB White]

The 57th state is called Heinz.