View Single Post
  #94 (permalink)  
Old 14-February-2006, 04:01 AM
Jens's Avatar
Jens Jens is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Tokyo
Posts: 1,913
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by peedeejones
The difference is, I just know I would be sued immediately if I was the one running this sort of scam.
Well, I'd definitely sue you if you sold "my" mountain. I don't know if you know the one, Mt. Jens. It's on the border between Nepal and China, about 8,800 meters high.

Well, you might get sued, but I don't think you would lose. You can call mountains anything you want, after all.

As an interesting aside, the issue of "official names" sometimes comes up. For example, the country formerly known as Burma at some time declared that its "official English name" is Myanmar. Which is OK, but in fact it's not possible, because there are actually no "official names" in English. There are names used by the UN, or by the IOC, for example, but those are "official UN names," not "official English names." There is no body with the authority to decide words in English. Dictionaries give a general guide to usage, and have moral power, but they do not have any legal authority.
__________________
As above, so below
Reply With Quote