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Thread ID: 82273 2007-08-21 18:41:00 The Baby Formerly Known As "@" SurferJoe46 (51) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
583524 2007-08-21 18:41:00 Like the Great Purple One, who by the way now has his name back after some lengthy litigation, this baby may lose his ampersand via litigation . Wasn't there some NZ'r who tried this too?

I faintly remember a post or two about it .

Read on:




A Chinese couple seeking a distinctive and modern name for their child chose the commonly used Internet '@' symbol, much to the consternation of Chinese officials .

The unidentified couple and the attempted naming were cited Thursday by a Chinese government official as an example of bizarre names creeping into the Chinese language .

The father "said 'the whole world uses it to write e-mails and translated into Chinese it means 'love him,'"' Li Yuming, the vice director of the State Language Commission, said at a news conference .

The symbol pronounced in English as 'at' sounds like the Chinese phrase "love him . "

Written Chinese does not use an alphabet but is comprised of characters, sometimes making it difficult to develop new words for new or foreign things and ideas .

In their quest for a different name, Li said that the parents of baby '@' were not alone . As of last year, only 129 surnames accounted for 87 percent of all surnames in China, Li said, suggesting that the uniformity drove people to find more individual given names .

"There was even a 'Zhao-A,' a 'King Osrina' and other extremely individualistic names," Li said, according to a transcript of the news conference posted on the government's main web site, http://www . gov . cn .

Li did not say whether police, who are the arbiters of names because they issue identity cards, rejected baby '@' and the others . But nationwide last year there were 60 million people's names that used "unfamiliar characters," Li said .

Let me get this straight .

If I address an e-mail to er . . . anyone, I am saying in Chinese:

www . metla@love_him . com

<kinda rolls off the tongue, wot?>
SurferJoe46 (51)
583525 2007-08-21 20:06:00 I think it more like "metla.love_him.hotmail.com"

Ewwwwwwww :lol:
ronyville (10611)
583526 2007-08-22 01:28:00 I think it more like "metla.love_him.hotmail.com"

Ewwwwwwww :lol:

better than

metla.love_him.yahoo.com

or

metla.love_him.phat.com

or

metla.love_him.longtime.com

And yes that does exist a chinese? electronics firm

although it does explain some things :lol:
Morgenmuffel (187)
583527 2007-08-22 02:29:00 metla.love_him.longtime.com
:lol:
rob_on_guitar (4196)
583528 2007-08-22 04:41:00 The baby might lose his ampersand ("&") if he gets into the hands of lawyers, Joe, but that's not mentioned in the story. If it happens he will wonder where he's at ("@"). (@ seems to be a special character: I can't make it bold. :( ) Graham L (2)
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