Re: CHAT: cultural interpretation [was Re: THEORY: language and the brain]

En réponse à michael poxon :

>there is no league table of freedom; all states of necessity impose certain
>restrictions on what its citizens can and cannot do, and these restrictions
>are conditioned by the culture. For instance, in France you have to choose a
>name for your child from a selected list.
One problem: it is *not* true! There is no such list of names people have 
to choose from! The only lists of names that exist come from private 
publishers who want to make money out of "How to name your child" books, 
and are by no means official or binding. As I said, France has the same 
rule as in Sweden: you can call your child whatever you want, as long as 
the name won't become a problem for the child (so don't try to call your 
child "lavabo", which means "sink" for instance. But if parents are fond of 
Sailor Moon and want to name their child Usagi, no law can prevent them to 
do so).

I didn't even know such urban legend existed about France. I really wonder 
where it comes from...

>Oh, and I'd probably put the prototype 'Free' state as somewhere like
>Iceland.
Except that Iceland is a country which *has* a list of names people have to 
name their children from. They go so far that foreigners that want to get 
the Icelandic nationality have to change name and take a name (first name 
*and* last name, which is of the form "first name+son or daughter") which 
is allowed by Icelandic laws. We had a discussion about that a year or two 
ago on this list, and there was an Icelandic guy on the list who confirmed 
that Iceland did have those laws.

Christophe Grandsire.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

You need a straight mind to invent a twisted conlang. 

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