As Tamil Nadu government changes names of cities amid Covid-19 pandemic, netizens begin meme fest
The Tamil Nadu government has changed the English spellings of the names of localities to retain the cultures and pronunciation integral to the place. Hence, Coimbatore becomes Koyampuththoor, Mylapore is now Mayilaappoor and Egmore has been changed to Ezhumboor among several other English names in the state. The changes were made following discussions by a committee after taking due consideration of the recommendations of district officials. While providing a city with a new name or a spelling change is nothing new in India, several netizens are of the opinion that such a move by the Tamil Nadu government should have been avoided amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Netizens took to Twitter, with #NAMECHANGE, and began a meme fest.“Strategic move by TN govt to confuse corona. Virus would have made plans to come to Coimbatore but when they reach, they realise it’s Koyampuththoor & get confused & abandon their mission," a user wrote.
Another tweeted, “Doesn’t TN Govt have more important things to attend to right now? Originally Kovanputhur, known as Kovai for centuries, anglicized as #Coimbatore – which worked well so far. What is this abomination of renaming it to Koyampuththoor? Tamilicising an Anglicized name?."
