Chilean sea bass. Maybe you’ve bought some at the local fish market or had a dish of it at a fine restaurant. Not my favorite, but then, there’s no accounting for tastes. The fish is a member of the Nototheniidae, a family that includes the Longfin icedevil. Now, would you be inclined to eat a Longfin icedevil? What about an Antarctic toothfish?
Chilean sea bass is the marketing name for Antarctic toothfish. The name dates to 1977, when Lee Lantz, a wholesaler, sought a more marketable English name for the fish. In other languages the fish goes by various names.
That names determine attitudes is worth remembering as those who would impose sweeping governmental controls seem to understand. Find a palatable name, find a new restaurant item. Find a euphemism for a societal change, find a switch in an economy or social structure.
I won’t point out the specifics for our times. I’ll leave that for you to discover, hopefully not before your personal freedoms are limited to ordering from a political or social or economic menu of renamed, but failed restaurant choices. A rose by any name might smell as sweet. But calling anything a rose doesn't make it a rose. *
*Shakespeare's Juliet: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet." Act II, Sc. II.
Chilean sea bass is the marketing name for Antarctic toothfish. The name dates to 1977, when Lee Lantz, a wholesaler, sought a more marketable English name for the fish. In other languages the fish goes by various names.
That names determine attitudes is worth remembering as those who would impose sweeping governmental controls seem to understand. Find a palatable name, find a new restaurant item. Find a euphemism for a societal change, find a switch in an economy or social structure.
I won’t point out the specifics for our times. I’ll leave that for you to discover, hopefully not before your personal freedoms are limited to ordering from a political or social or economic menu of renamed, but failed restaurant choices. A rose by any name might smell as sweet. But calling anything a rose doesn't make it a rose. *
*Shakespeare's Juliet: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet." Act II, Sc. II.
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