Said somebody quoted in "Taiwanese people stuck with the name ‘Salmon’ after sushi promotion Parliament debates law that bans people from changing their names more than three times after stunt leads to unforeseen consequences" (The Guardian).
In March 2021 restaurant chain Sushiro ran a promotion offering free all-you-can-eat sushi for a whole table to anyone with the Chinese characters for salmon, “gui yu”, in their name....
Once the two-day promotion ended, most returned to their normal names, but... the government only allows people to change their names three times....
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If they want to change back, they'll have an upstream battle ahead of them.
'...the government only allows people to change their names three times....'
But go ahead and change your 'gender' as many times as you want.
Prescription drugs are named after black people
SNL version but the original was some medicine advice show on PBS or something that I can't find.
Ah here it is, original drugs are named after black people Alan Grier.
People changed their names for sushi?
This must be the Taiwanese equivalent to trans-genderism.
I don't understand eating sushi.
Is being named Salmon somehow degrading? My grandmother's maiden name was Salmon, and it never occurred to me to think there was anything wrong with being named after a fish (as long as it's not a mullet). At least I think she was named after a fish. Then again, I've occasionally had people ask me in a very nasty, hostile way "Are you Jewish?" and thought and sometimes said "Damn if I know". After all, it could be a shortened form of Salomon. But grandma was Scottish, and there are lots of small-s salmon in Scotland, so probably she was named after a fish.
Thank God we live in America, where you can not only change your name as many times as you like, but your gender, your race, your clothing, your political and religious affiliation, and your choice of favorite restaurant.
Thats ok Miss Taipei. When the Chicom APAs drop their ramps on your beaches you will modify your utility function.
How expensive is the sushi that it’s worth it to change your name for a free meal?
So who is being stopped from changing their names back from Salmon, since three changes are allowed? The article says "some" without elaboration. Let's do the math, or at least process the problem:
Men would have a birth name, and change to Salmon for the promotion, then back. Two changes. No problems. Women would have a birth name, maybe (albeit not usually) change to a married surname, then Salmon, then back. Three changes. No problems.
The only people affected by this bureaucratic snafu are women divorced or widowed once, who changed from birth name, to married name, back to previous name, then to Salmon, and are now stuck at Salmon.
In other words, this is an almost nonexistent problem.
Perhaps the few Salmons could be returned to prior names with a "private bill." Such quickie bills are introduced by the individual legislative representative of a stuck Salmon, allowing for an exception to be created to the three changes rule, usually without committee hearings and by acclamation rather than counted votes. Citizenship and immigration authorizations outside normal channels used to be done this way in the US Congress, for example, when a Marine officer ended up married overseas to a person unable to immigrate otherwise. I'd guess Taiwan (and every other legislature) has such a system set up for similar legislative "favors."
I should go into consulting, and get paid for explaining things incorrectly like this.
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