Names that don’t travel well

by Iva Skoch on

Whenever I am in a Spanish speaking country, I feel really special. Every time, I get a check, it says “IVA incluido.” That alone isn’t bad news for me, but since everyone else is getting checks with “IVA included,” it makes me feel, you know, a little cheap.

IVA is the Spanish equivalent for the VAT, so I find my name everywhere: from checks to car showrooms. I guess, it is not as bad as running for President with a name like Barack Hussein Obama, but CNN reports that crazy names are totally common for Indian politicians.

Here are a few of the people competing for legislative seats in India: Frankenstein Momin, Billy Kid Sangma, Britainwar Dan, Admiral Sangma, Bombersingh Hynniewta, Laborious Manik Syiem, Hilarius Pohchen, Boldness Nongrum, Clever Marak and Adolf Lu Hitler Marak.

Hitler must be a popular name in Mumbai. The restaurant “Hitler Cross” was forced to change its name, however, after Mumbai’s Jewish community protested.

Photo of the Day 2-24-2008

by Catherine Bodry on


One of the best things about traveling is seeing items and situations that seem completely foreign to you — like a pile of strange-looking fish for sale, for example. Pirano snapped this photo in Split, Croatia. No word on whether he/she made a purchase.

Capture any seemingly strange scenes from your last trip? Upload them to Gadling’s Flickr pool and we’ll consider them for our Photo of the Day feature.

Your daily dose of European stereotypes

by Jerry Guo on

I just came across this cute little site–the kind that you find when you’re procrastinating–that among other things, has a page introducing you to the great people of Europe.

Oh, and these are wild generalizations. But methinks it’s a harmless read, though whoever wrote it does take on a pretty serious tone about the whole Europeans-hate-each-other-as-much-as-they-hate-Americans thing.

Here’s a preview:

  • The Scandinavians – Widely respected by most other Europeans
  • The Belgians – Considered idiots by both the Dutch and the French. Belgians, in turn, consider the Dutch to be a bunch of cranky assholes, and French stuck-up.
  • The Swiss – Considered extremely rigid, even by the Germans.
  • The British – About half of the British would be really angry at being called European, so that should provide an apt starting point.

“Swapping Kosovo for a pair of sneakers”

by Catherine Bodry on

The person who posted the YouTube video of two young woman looting with glee in Belgrade described their actions thusly: “Belgrade bimbos exploit unrest to steal from smashed-up boutiques without the slightest shame. They are so greedy they even have to carry things in their teeth.”

Their arms laden with clothing, bags, and other sundries (including chocolates), the two women could barely carry their booty through streets clogged with other seemingly joyful looters. Although the video is in Serbian (I assume), Reuters translates some of the dialog for us; the cameraman follows the two around, asking sarcastically if they’ve found their size yet. When one of the woman asks him to turn the camera off, he responds, “but you are the heroines of this protest for me.” The video aired on Serbian television and has prompted scores of negative responses on YouTube. Reuters speculates that the shame of the publicity might be better punishment than being arrested. Decide for yourself:

Apparently, writers are homebodies

by Iva Skoch on

This could be a big problem for me: “Many authors are homebodies deeply connected to where they live. After all, it’s where they work,” after seeing this line, I just had to open the full article in NY Times. If, in fact, most good writers are homebodies, I better start looking for a new job.

As it turns out, they are not really homebodies. (Thank you, Mark Twain! Thanks Hemingway!) Most of them are just really connected to their homes. I can live with that. I am also connected to my home(s), although I couldn’t tell you right now where my real home actually is. I can see this could potentically be a whole set of problems.

Anyway, read this article by Pamela Redmond Satran if you want to check out how a few of the world’s greatest writers lived. For me, I love getting a little inspiration from seeing where and how great authors worked. I wrote about the Mark Twain house in Hartford, CT on gadling before. Satran also recommends checking out the Dickens house in London, Edith Wharton’s house in Lenox, Mass., Eugene O’Neill’s house in San Francisco, Kipling’s in Brattleboro, VT and, of course, Hemingway’s in Key West.