And in Unrelated News Elsewhere…

Felipe Calderon, the outgoing President of Mexico, announced a few days ago that he would like to change the name of his country.  He is no longer satisfied with simply calling his homeland Mexico.  Mr. Calderon, to the dismay of critics who call the move (I am not going to swear here) silly, would like the change the name from Mexico to Mexico.

That’s correct.  Mexico would henceforth be called Mexico.

For those of us who have experienced difficulty keeping up to this point (please note that my hand is raised to ask questions over here) the name, as chosen for Mexico at the time of liberation from Spain in 1824 was United Mexican States.  President Calderon seeks to remove United and States as bookends for the formal name—never mind that everyone has for nearly two centuries recognized Mexico as, simply, Mexico.

I can understand why, for the sake of creating a splash, some entertainers adopt stage names, though I personally might have balked at changing my name from Mitchell Hegman to Engelbert Humperdinck as a fellow named Arnold Dorsey did.   When the singer Prince changed his name to that horn-looking thing, I was pretty baffled.  I sort of understood the logic when Kentucky Fried Chicken converted to KFC and I even managed to adopt the new moniker; but I am pretty certain that will keep confusing Mexico with Mexico if President Calderon gets his way.    --Mitchell Hegman