Lao or Laos?

Lao or Laos?

The people call themselves Lao and the language is Lao, so where did that "s" come from? The answer seems to be a mistranslation from French: somebody read royaume des Laos ("kingdom of the Lao people") as royaume de Laos ("kingdom of Laos"), and the name stuck. The correct form of the name, however, is Lao PDR and, should you have any incoming mail, using it will increase the odds of it passing the censors.

~Info courtesy of wikipedia~