Laos or Lao?

Before I arrived in Southeast Asia I met a lot of travelers who had been here. They all raved about Laos, but they pronounced it "Lao". I've always pronounced it Laos (with an 's') for reasons that should be obvious to someone familiar with the English language.

But it is, in fact, pronounced Lao, not Laos. The name comes from the French, and the 's' is silent. Maybe it stands for salt and they throw that away. (Did anyone get that reference?)

The country is officially Lao People's Democratic Republic, a bit ironic since it has a single-party communist government. It's usually abbreviated Lao PDR. The people are Lao. The language is Lao. They call whiskey is Lao Lao. The beer (which is by far the best in Southeast Asia) is Beerlao. As someone who struggles with languages I thank them for keeping things so blessedly simple.