●Stories
●Firehose
●All
●Popular
●Polls
●Software
●Thought Leadership
Submit
●
Login
●or
●
Sign up
●Topics:
●Devices
●Build
●Entertainment
●Technology
●Open Source
●Science
●YRO
●Follow us:
●RSS
●Facebook
●LinkedIn
●Twitter
●
Youtube
●
Mastodon
●Bluesky
Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!
Forgot your password?
Close
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Load All Comments
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
/Sea
Score:
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1
More
Login
Forgot your password?
Close
Close
Log In/Create an Account
●
All
●
Insightful
●
Informative
●
Interesting
●
Funny
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
byAnonymous Coward writes:
Google can call it whatever they want.
byGigaplexNZ ( 1233886 ) writes:
Trump has no legal standing to rename a territory that he doesn't have majority control over.
byValgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) writes:
Actually, he probably does. It doesn't mean any other party has to acknowledge the change, however.
Parent
twitter
facebook
byArchieBunker ( 132337 ) writes:
*Citation needed.
byShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) writes:
Trump can change the name [nytimes.com].
Can Trump change the name? [theguardian.com]
Trump's executive order directs the Secretary of the Interior to change the name. He has the legal authority to do so.
Who owns what percent of it is completely irrelevant.
Congress can overrule the president (laws trump executive orders).
No other country is obligated to recognize the change, and so far, none has.
Google is (quite reasonably) displaying the official legal name of the gulf in each locale.
Mexico would be wise to ignore this stupid distraction and focus on substantive issues.
Parent
twitter
facebook
byAnonymous Coward writes:
Don't worry, in four years it will again be known as the Gulf of Mexico as this and other Trump vanity orders are rescinded.
byOngelooflijkHaribo ( 7706194 ) writes:
I distinctly remember that chips at one point in the U.S.A. where temporarily called “freedom fries” rather than the already quaint name “French fries” [they originate from Belgium], because France wasn't interested in joining the war in Iraq, which was silently reverted again.
Parent
twitter
facebook
byjeti ( 105266 ) writes:
It was because the US had presented no evidence of their claim that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. France was the only country willing to call them out on it. Many US Americans completely flipped out and called them cowards and surrender monkeys.
Parent
twitter
facebook
byEpeeist ( 2682 ) writes:
Americans completely flipped out and called them cowards and surrender monkeys.
"Cheese eating surrender monkeys", I seem to recall.
As opposed to the cheeseburger eating surrender monkey that is the current US president.
Parent
twitter
facebook
byfenrif ( 991024 ) writes:
When did the Democrats/left become open warmongers?
What did I miss? Programming update from central?
byskam240 ( 789197 ) writes:
"Cheese eating surrender monkeys", I seem to recall.
Maybe you saw someone say that somewhere but that's a Simpsons quote (which would have been only a few years old at the time) and isn't really the line conservatives were using in mass.
byshanen ( 462549 ) writes:
Why do the censor sock puppets have so many mod points?
byjythie ( 914043 ) writes:
Eh, like many things, for conservatives actions are actor dependent. Democrats are not being called warmongers because they are more pro-war, just the 'wrong' wars... specifically, since christian nationalists have taken over the GoP, Democrats being willing to counter Russia means they are fighting a christian nation, thus 'war monger'.
by_merlin ( 160982 ) writes:
I don't know if it was "conservatives", but a lot of Americans were using that Simpsons quote to insult the French.
byBaloo Uriza ( 1582831 ) writes:
Just because it's now legal to discriminate doesn't mean it makes fascists and bigots any more employable. Same reason the same group of morons show up to the elections office every Tuesday, just in case there's something they can vote for a Republican terrorist on.
bytragedy ( 27079 ) writes:
The reason you're confused is because what you are claiming happened never actually happened. The Democrats/left did not become "open warmongers". They simply stayed fairly consistent. On the other hand, you have the Republicans/right, who seem to be enthusiastic warmongers until the war(s) have gone on long enough for an entire generation to grow up and then they get confused and say: "Hey, why are we in these wars in the first place?" Then they elect a President who goes on and on about how terrible wars
bytragedy ( 27079 ) writes:
From the Wikipedia page: "The term gained political traction in the US, especially in right-wing circles, when Jonah Goldberg, a columnist for the National Review magazine, used it in the title of an April 1999 column on the "Top Ten Reasons to Hate the French"." then 'In 2005, Nigel Farage used the phrase in a debate with Tony Blair ..." etc. So, it was coined on the Simpson's as a pejorative from Groundskeeper Willie when he was forced to teach a French class, but it has gone on to be fairly widely used
byskam240 ( 789197 ) writes:
Two instances of idiots who didnt get the joke (almost everyone likes cheese and all Western countries have long histories of cheese making) means it was "widely used"?
bytragedy ( 27079 ) writes:
There were plenty of examples. Hence the etc. I am not going to search out every one though. They were all over the place at the time biand it continues to be used. The joke, of course, was supposed to be the irony of someone with a prejudice against the French teaching French class. The reality is that it was picked up by many bigots (along with people who are not necessarily bigots, but who thought they were just carrying on a funny joke). Once again, I think it's a lot less funny because it seems to me
●h your current threshold.
byOngelooflijkHaribo ( 7706194 ) writes:
Was France really the only country? I distinctly remember far more were, and weren't willing to join the attack and the U.N. adopted a resolution against it.
Of course, it's often used as an argument now about how much milder the response was compared to what Russia is doing right now.
byfred6666 ( 4718031 ) writes:
Was France really the only country?
No, but it was the most prominent opposition questioning the morality of the invation, from a key US ally.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki... [wikisource.org]
Germany was maybe the second most important. Other allies such as Canada didn't join the invasion, but didn't openly criticize as much as France did.
A lot of people in the USA hated France because of that (freedom fries, cheese eating surrender monkeys). Nobody apologized even thought France was right, there were no WMDs, and most people in the USA now think the Iraq war
bydatabasecowgirl ( 5241735 ) writes:
Aye, and the fact that the French provided expertise and actual boots on the ground with their Foreign Legion, avoiding mass American casualties, was problematic for the younger Bush.
Bush was well aware that American enthusiasm for war would precipitously drop if body counts were to become daily news. Something he witnessed on TV from the sidelines during Vietnam. In the end, he moved the body count to allied troops and subcontractors.
Canada was prepared to help America, evident by the kilometres long trains of desert camo armoured vehicles that were crossing rural Canada on 9/12. Witnessing all of that hardware roll down the tracks like a solemn funeral train of Hilbert proportions hit me in the gut harder than watching the planes fly into the towers online during class. I'd never seen trains so long. Even during harvest.
It brought visceral seriousness and focus to the chaos in New York that was initially seen as a retaliatory attack by Chile for America's attack on a previous September 11th and followed by confusion as reporters tried to make sense of the events repeating "no one expected such an attack".
Having flown out of Denver a few years earlier on the morning of Columbine, I clearly remember the boys had planned to drive to DIA, hijack a plane, and fly into the world trade center. I felt lucky not to have been one of their victims and found the disbelief more disorienting than the attack. Privately , I was grateful it wasn't the drones that had been populating my nightmares.
Canada demured to join in the Road to Baghdad. Instead, they sent peacekeepers who quietly did the groundwork in Afghanistan. The shocking body counts early on from friendly fire ensured Canada wouldn't be alienated through name calling and tariffs as were the French and was kept from the spotlight which focused on the American flag carried into the fray by iconic American cowboys on horseback.
As an American, the jokes about the French army are embarrassing because they betrayed our country's profound lack of historical grasp. Frightening considering Dante's account of the journey to hell involves first wiping the memory by crossing the river Styx.
Parent
twitter
facebook
byCreepy ( 93888 ) writes:
The names go back to Liberty Steaks and Liberty Potatoes (Hamburgers and French Fries) during the World Wars. Technically, so-called French fries are probably from Chile or somewhere in South America, as most nightshade foods originated in South America.
byangryman77 ( 6900384 ) writes:
"French fries" is the lazy version of "frenched fries." A julienne cut, which produces thin, even strips, if often called "frenched" when applied to vegetables.
It's depressing that in this world of pre-packaged everything that common words are no longer common. The people who are able, or desirous of being able to do things that were once common are becoming scarce. Who would bother to know a word for a process they have no interest in, and will never perform?
Preparing and cooking a meal used to require some basic knowledge. Now you can go your entire life without knowing pretty much anything about your food other than where to shove it into your body.
Parent
twitter
facebook
bydatabasecowgirl ( 5241735 ) writes:
Thank heavens for delivery services. So much more convenient than drive through.
byangryman77 ( 6900384 ) writes:
For fry-into-body-shoving?
byphantomfive ( 622387 ) writes:
I distinctly remember that chips at one point in the U.S.A. where temporarily called “freedom fries” rather than the already quaint name “French fries”
The menu item name in the congressional cafeteria was changed. I tried to enter a McDonald's and by freedom fries but they were still French fries.
Incidentally, the French have one of the most impressive military histories of any country. They aren't surrender monkeys, they are musketeers (and whatever came after).
byElimGarak000 ( 9327375 ) writes:
The menu item name in the congressional cafeteria was changed.
I believe you are correct. IIRC, Dubya's pronouncement was limited to changing the name in the Capital Building Cafeteria, as you say. No sanctions were issued against McDonald's for leaving their menu unchanged.
I tried to enter a McDonald's and by freedom fries but they were still French fries.
And you admit that?
byBig Hairy Gorilla ( 9839972 ) writes:
Just thought I'd mention there is a historical reference to surrender monkeys ... I do believe has something to do with Germany invading France in WWII and how the French responded... surrendered...
byphantomfive ( 622387 ) writes:
The French guarded the retreat at Dunkirk and then proceeded to covertly fight one of the bravest resistances the world has ever seen.
bymysidia ( 191772 ) writes:
I distinctly remember that chips at one point in the U.S.A. where temporarily called “freedom fries”
They are not chips. They're Fries a completely different much thinner potato-based fried food product.
bysamwichse ( 1056268 ) writes:
I'm the US, British chips are called steak fries we fat ass I can tell.
bysamwichse ( 1056268 ) writes:
JFC, call the bondulance
byzawarski ( 1381571 ) writes:
If it helps you sleep better, keep telling yourself that.
byangryman77 ( 6900384 ) writes:
I think the solution is obvious, the one to the west will be the Western American Ocean, and other one will be the Eastern American Ocean.
Also, since Alaska touches it, the Northern American Ocean will be the one up north.
Also again, since the north pole will be in the Northern American Ocean, let's just update that to the American Pole.
byangryman77 ( 6900384 ) writes:
Also, American Bears...that seems like a no-brainer.
●your current threshold.
byaccount_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes:
Comment removed based on user account deletion
byShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) writes:
But a key factor here is that the renamings are supremely stupid.
That's the point.
This is a distraction.
The stupidity is a feature.
Everyone is focusing on this and smugly talking about how stupid Trump is, while paying less attention to the real issues.
Parent
twitter
facebook
byaccount_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes:
Comment removed based on user account deletion
byaccount_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes:
Comment removed based on user account deletion
● your current threshold.
bydrinkypoo ( 153816 ) writes:
Everyone is focusing on this
Nonsense. For most people, commenting on this is just one small event in their day.
and smugly talking about how stupid Trump is, while paying less attention to the real issues.
One of the real issues is that Trump isstupid, he makes this clear every time he riffs about something idiotic like cleansing your body with light and bleach. But another real issue is that it doesn't matter because they made plans for him so that he doesn't have to be smart in order to fuck everything up.
byThumpBzztZoom ( 6976422 ) writes:
There is absolutely zero need for a distractions at the moment, the total bootlickers the right elected to congress will do anything he says, there are zero guardrails or morals that matter anymore.
You have to realize that in many ways, Trump is a complete moron, and some of the thing he does are just completely moronic, from concept to execution, there is no deeper meaning. This is one of them. He can do whatever he wants to now openly, and has been doing so since day one. He's doesn't care what the courts
●th your current threshold.
bynightflameauto ( 6607976 ) writes:
But a key factor here is that the renamings are supremely stupid.
That's the point.
This is a distraction.
The stupidity is a feature.
Everyone is focusing on this and smugly talking about how stupid Trump is, while paying less attention to the real issues.
The funniest, in a sick and demented way, part of the Trump administration is that Trump himself doesn't come across at all like a mastermind cooking up distractions. Probably because he isn't. He's always come across as a bumbling buffoon, but there are a *LOT* of people around him that are scheming assholes and are happy to sit directly behind him shoving the levers of society around in whatever manner they see fit while he flails about renaming things, declaring unreality real, and generally acting like
byBig Hairy Gorilla ( 9839972 ) writes:
This whole episode Trump V2 seems like a reversion to feudal times... The King and relatives were inbred morons.. the actual power was all of those scheming assholes around him.
byjvkjvk ( 102057 ) writes:
> He's not even trying to hide what he's doing, but no one with the power to stop him is willing to do anything about it. The few congress critters with a minimal backbone left that tried have been shouted down by the Trump brigade of the GOP and harassed into silence
There IS no one with the power to stop him. He can Primary ANY of them. They know this and will fall in line no matter what happens. I'm sure they would even sacrifice some of their own members just to stay in "power". They know that anythin
byoh_my_080980980 ( 773867 ) writes:
Except actions have consequences.
Google and Apple changed the name. So a new reality is born.
Saying something stupid is one thing.
Saything something stupid that forces something to change is a problem.
byarglebargle_xiv ( 2212710 ) writes:
But you've got to admit it's working very well. Heard anyone complain about egg prices recently, which have been going up and up during Trump's reign?
Parent
twitter
facebook
byThumpBzztZoom ( 6976422 ) writes:
Heard anyone complain about egg prices recently, which have been going up and up during Trump's reign?
Yes. Everywhere. Sometimes in person, at least daily in the media. Where the fuck have you been?
byarglebargle_xiv ( 2212710 ) writes:
Not in the US, where silly things like egg prices aren't even on the radar (around USD3-4 for a dozen free-range eggs, in case it matters).
bydatabasecowgirl ( 5241735 ) writes:
The price of eggs is bothersome, but the aversion to addressing the underlying cause is concerning considering the new Secretary of Health is also the high priest of medical mistrust.
byaccount_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes:
Comment removed based on user account deletion
byThumpBzztZoom ( 6976422 ) writes:
Then your post I replied to was just idiotic bullshit then? Where you implied that during Trumps reign, the US doesn't hear about egg prices anymore, which you had no way of knowing, because you don't live in the US. Your completely unqualified guess submitted as fact was wrong, don't try to act superior when it's pointed out as bullshit.
byaccount_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes:
Comment removed based on user account deletion
●neath your current threshold.
bySloppy ( 14984 ) writes:
Egg prices are in line with everyone's predictions, making them kind of uninteresting.
On the few occasions during the campaign when Trump was able to speak whole, coherent sentences, everything he said indicated that he was going to use the power of government to raise prices. He said he'd raise our taxes and interfere with the labor market.
So we've been expecting inflation to balloon in way that makes 2024 look like the good ol' days. What's interesting about the fairly low prices we're still seeing right
byswillden ( 191260 ) writes:
But you've got to admit it's working very well. Heard anyone complain about egg prices recently, which have been going up and up during Trump's reign?
When egg prices are mentioned in right-leaning news, they're explained away as a result of bird flu, or blamed on Biden.
When Trump's tariffs finally go into effect and really begin to bite, I expect he'll find a way to blame that on Biden, too. Though his mouthpieces have already started laying the groundwork for a "necessary suffering" defense, so they'll have that if the blame-Biden strategy doesn't stick.
●beneath your current threshold.
byphantomfive ( 622387 ) writes:
Alaska tried for decades to rename Mt McKinley to Denali, but Ohio objected, and the board on naming things backed off of Alaska's request.
I guess that's Ohio's reward for voting for Trump. I guess that's not the best reward, but someone is happy.
bydatabasecowgirl ( 5241735 ) writes:
Yeah Google maps renamed it, too. Which also breaks navigation. Try to map a trip from Fairbanks to Mt. McKinley and Google Maps tosses up the error:
Can't seem to find a way there
Just like attempts to map a drive to the Gulf of America. Maybe Google has a sense of humour an aversion to evil.
Wondering if driving a GMC Denali will be viewed as unpatriotic.
byLindleyF ( 9395567 ) writes:
The same thing happens if you try to find a route to Mt Baker in WA. The geographic center of the feature is too far from any road so the algorithm fails.
But also, navigation may use different data processing than labeling.
bydatabasecowgirl ( 5241735 ) writes:
That might be the reason, but it's odd that it occurs with location names selected from drop downs. One would imagine the geographic location to be a prerequisite for a directions menu item.
For example, if I type in Denali, Mt. McKinley is top suggestion. Select Mt. McKinley as destination and Fairbanks, AK as start and no route found.
Selecting similarly Mar a Lago to Gulf of America, which is adjacent, unable to drive, bike, or walk. Broken.
byLindleyF ( 9395567 ) writes:
When you do a search, the system first needs to resolve your search to actual point of interest; then it needs to convert those to one or more locations; then it needs to map those locations onto the road network; then it needs to get you there. Some features have defined access points, like the gate to a national park. Some do not. If there is no access point, then the location of the feature is probably the center. In the case of the Gulf, that's hundreds of miles from any road. Same thing if the location
byAlypius ( 3606369 ) writes:
Watching the same people who insisted on renaming mountains and military bases suddenly get the vapors over this is giving me whiplash.
byaccount_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes:
Comment removed based on user account deletion
byAlypius ( 3606369 ) writes:
Yah, I remember most of that. The NDAA was a big deal and I suspect there were other concerns/pet projects that were threatened. I don't particularly care one way or the other (a California native, I've never had strong feelings about the civil war), though SECDEF's renaming to honor PFC Roland Bragg [wikipedia.org] just sounds unnecessarily expensive.
byaccount_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes:
Comment removed based on user account deletion
bycmdr_klarg ( 629569 ) writes:
oh and that idiotic renaming to Ft Bragg, just more bullshit because they love a terrible confederate general so much and wish the south won the war, this secretary with the white supremacist tattoo doesn't even bother hiding his sympathies anymore.
Apparently it is not being named after Braxton Bragg anymore, but for U.S. Army paratrooper Private First Class Roland L. Bragg.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
byaccount_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes:
Comment removed based on user account deletion
●neath your current threshold.
byShaitan ( 22585 ) writes:
"Congress can overrule the president (laws trump executive orders)."
In some things, not all. Unconstitutional laws aren't laws at all and violating the separation of powers is unconstitutional, congress can delegate power or appropriate funds to the executive but any attempt to direct it's behavior beyond that isn't legal.
On the other hand there is a legal theory for every position but the reason congress is rushing to repeal the impoundment act isn't to help Trump, it's to keep the Supreme Court from setti
bydatabasecowgirl ( 5241735 ) writes:
Really? This seems like a great way to solidify Mexican solidarity shouldn't be discounted in facing the challenges the US has in store with tariffs and other legislation.
No doubt China appreciates the friction Trump is generating. I can't really imagine a better way to promote BRI, can you?
bythegarbz ( 1787294 ) writes:
Google is (quite reasonably) displaying the official legal name of the gulf in each locale.
No it's not. The only body recognising the name Gulf of America is America. There's zero international bodies that recognise it as Gulf of America outside of America.
I'm all for Google geofencing Gulf of America to pander to the locals, but it is actively showing an incorrect name internationally. If you want to argue that it is sharing all relevant information for the entire world about naming (a reasonable argument), then they should call it "Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)", instead of the current "Gulf
byOrangAsm ( 678078 ) writes:
There be dragons, also depending where you are. If you're in Mexico, the dragons are in the Gulf of Florida, near Mar-a-lago.
●neath your current threshold.
byNotEmmanuelGoldstein ( 6423622 ) writes:
... the Secretary of the Interior ...
The rest of the world does not take orders from the Secretary of the Interior. Google and Apple have not been ordered to change the name. It is in their interest to kow-tow to Trump and to align with naming convention in the USA. American-owned maps in the rest of the world show "Gulf of Mexico".
byfred6666 ( 4718031 ) writes:
Google is (quite reasonably) displaying the official legal name of the gulf in each locale.
No they aren't. That's what they do for most places, including the Sea of Japan (east sea in Korea) or the Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf for Arab countries).
In the case of the Gulf of Mexico, Google made an exception: they call it Gulf of Mexico in Mexico, Gulf of America in the USA, and Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) elsewhere. So yes, the rest of the world is stuck with that name that nobody uses, even tough it's in parenthesis. Bad decision from Google.
byjvkjvk ( 102057 ) writes:
>So yes, the rest of the world is stuck with that name that nobody uses, even tough it's in parenthesis. Bad decision from Google.
Yeah, it seems like the rest of the world should have a talk with Google why they are showing a clearly local name for an Internationally recognized body of water's name.
Maybe fines would be in order to get them to comply with international standards?
bySuperken7 ( 893292 ) writes:
Drop the "(Gulf of America)", just "Gulf of Mexico". It's cleaner.
bymjwx ( 966435 ) writes:
No other country is obligated to recognize the change, and so far, none has.
Google is (quite reasonably) displaying the official legal name of the gulf in each locale.
Mexico would be wise to ignore this stupid distraction and focus on substantive issues.
That is the crux of the matter, in a few years time when President Musk has finished wrecking the US or has been locked up for trying, people will still be calling it the gulf of Mexico.
However Mexico isn't being stupid by opposing it as it's generating huge amounts of free publicity for Mexico. It's saying "Hey Brit/German/Frenchman/Australian, you know that holiday you were thinking of in the US... forget it and come to Mexico, we speak better English than they do and with 90% less crazy"... same for b
byaccount_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes:
Comment removed based on user account deletion
●es beneath your current threshold.
●beneath your current threshold.
byufgrat ( 6245202 ) writes:
Incorrect. There are existing international agreements.
He can rename a body of water that only the USA is adjacent to, but Mexico and the other Caribbean nations have rights too.
byshanen ( 462549 ) writes:
My twisted joke on the topic to replace the AC trollage Subject.
There may be more comments in this discussion. Without JavaScript enabled, you might want to turn on Classic Discussion System in your preferences instead.
Slashdot
●
●
Submit Story
It is much harder to find a job than to keep one.
●FAQ
●Story Archive
●Hall of Fame
●Advertising
●Terms
●Privacy Statement
●About
●Feedback
●Mobile View
●Blog
Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
Copyright © 2026 Slashdot Media. All Rights Reserved.
×
Close
Working...
Working...