Talk:Muang Thong Thani

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[edit] Naming

I thought that as a proper name, the spelling as seen on the giant sign at the entrance to the complex should be used? Paul C 09:43, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

The proper name is in Thai letters, but for the romanization of Thai there are countless variations. Muang is a common version of transcribing เมือง, yet Mueang is the more standard one, as U and UE stand for two different sounds. See also the discussion at Talk:Don Mueang. andy 20:52, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I was thinking that since this is a privately owned business, Bangkok Land PLC's preferred spelling would overrule? Paul_012 ^(talk) 09:34, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Go to Google and search for Muang (2,420,000) vs. Mueang (175,000), the same Thai word romanized two different ways. Bangkok Land spells it both ways, depending on which sheet of theirs you pick up (English version). Most maps and guides spell it Muang. Likewise in Google, "Muang Thong Thani" (125,000) vs. "Mueang Thong Thani" (350), i.e., more than a 150:1 ratio. Thus, I believe Wikipedia is correct in its analysis to use Muang while crossreferencing to Mueang. Notably, there is more than one established "standard" in transliteration between Thai and A-z, even just in academic and government circles. I know because my company has a translation business in Muang Thong Thani. 124.121.80.158 16:01, 26 June 2007 (UTC)Mark Prado, June 2007.

"Muang" is a Thai word for country or district, e.g., every province has an "Amphur Muang" (central), and it's practically always spelled Muang. Same word origin, exact same spelling in Thai. The nature of the problem here is higher class Thais' propensity to add letters to their names to make them longer and seem more sophisticated, in this case some of the people in the company Bangkok Land. Adding redundant vowels and h's is common to stretch names. You can find the Mekong river spelled Maekhong (796 in Google, more than twice as many as Mueang Thong Thani). There's the recent Prime Minister Thaksin, pronounced Taksin. There's no Thai "h" in the Thai spelling. Phi Phi island is not pronounced like Fi Fi, confusing to many foreigners asking for directions. The three vowels in a row in Mueang is over the top. Muang Thong Thani is a district name, and while Bangkok Land Public Co., Ltd., coined the name, and can spell it any way it chooses, it owns only part of the land, just like Christopher Columbus' heirs do not own the District of Columbia. However, I have the 2005 Annual Report for the Bangkok Land Public Company Limited in my hand and they spell it Muang Thong Thani, not Mueang Thong Thani. It's like driving down the road in Thailand, whereby you can see the same city spelled different ways in A-z, but always the same way in Thai. Phatthaya, Pattaya, Nakhon, Nakorn, Ratchasima, Rajasima, and so forth. I work in Muang Thong Thani, and in most places it's spelled Muang inside the geographical district, just like most every Amphur Muang. There is more than a 100:1 ratio in Google for just Muang vs. Mueang, which is par for many misspelled words in the world. Why does any bureaucrat want to claim authority for the status of a new way to spell a word?