Why do we call countries by different names depending on where we live?

A little bit of context for that specific question: http://www.fluther.com/disc/6031/why-do-countries-outside-germany-call-the-country-germany/

I’d think “normal words” would be rather subjective; Etats-unis is literally “states united” to the French but I guess I get your point.

This difference also applies to some cities: why do we call a city Florence and the Italians call it Firenze?

I guess the naming of cities/countries ultimately get bastardized to the local language. You could also add to that the pronunciation of foreign words as well; you’d come across as a pompous ass in the US if you were referring to Paris as “Pair-ee”...

However, I draw the line of naming when it comes to people. I recently worked with a woman from France and her name was Gael. Some of my coworkers just called her “Gail”, which is kind of the American-ized name, I guess. But I thought it would be rude to not call her by her real name, and real pronunciation, which is “Guy-elle”... I think it’s rude not to at least try to do this when referring a person directly…

but I digress… interesting q though

why do we have different languages?

@juaniquillo so we can talk about you on the subway without you knowing it.