On Nov 1, 8:13*am, Miles Bader wrote:
John B writes:
As a foreigner, you can refer to it however you like - however,
there's a fine line between "demonstrating your understanding of
history and your contempt for bigots" and "appearing to be an ignorant
prat", so I'd recommend using "Mumbai" unless you're aware of the
political views of the person you're talking to.

Using "Mumbai" is hardly guaranteed to spare you the latter charge though....

IMX using "Mumbai" will at worst get you a "no, you don't need to call
it Mumbai to me, that's only what those saffron *******s call it",
whereas using "Bombay" can cause serious annoyance (not just with
saffron *******s but also with people with no particular loyalties on
the internal bunfight but who think Western Imperialism is bad).

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org