Re: Men vs Women on Conlang

Sally Caves scripsit:

> Yeah, that's right, John!  Just bust my cover, will ya'?  :)
This reminds me of the situation in _The Flying Sorcerers_, where the
act of saying "My real name is X" is a name-changing spell.
Almost true in common-law countries: the court process does not change
your name, but rather takes judicial notice of the fact that you have
*already* changed it.  Provided there is no fraud intended, you can do
so at any time.

A story (perhaps apocryphal) says that one Kabotchnik of Boston decided
to change his name to Cabot, and that the famous old Boston family
sued to prevent this.  They failed, leading to the following modification
of the Boston Rhyme:

        And here's to dear old Boston,
        The home of the bean and the cod;
        Where the Lowells speak only to the Cabots
        But the Cabots speak Yiddish, by God.

--
John Cowan <jcowan@...>     http://www.reutershealth.com
I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen,    http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith.  --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_