It's all in the name

I felt a subtle but unmistakable loosening of my bowels when the Edwards double act was elected in November. It wasn't necessarily anything personal: I didn't feel comfortable having a husband/wife combo elected in 2001, fearing family loyalties could dominate rational decision making, and I still don't believe that a father/daughter team on council is any more healthy. And, quite frankly, the concept of "three for the price of two" touted last year scared the bejaysus out of me. But that's democracy for you.

It was the non-elected Edwards from Fox Bay that set the alarm bells ringing over the weekend though. In a letter to the Penguin News she expressed her outrage at apparent Argentine manipulation of the name of the Malvina House Hotel and invited Islanders to come up with a new title for the establishment. "Let's change the name" she urged, "and stop the dirty Argies from thinking we are proud of the name Malvinas". Or words to that effect.

It may seem a harmless suggestion and even sensible to those who regularly find themselves having to explain to visitors the difference between Malvina, the woman for whom the building is named (a Celtic name, incidentally, meaning 'handmaiden') and "Malvinas", the name Argentina uses for the Falklands.

However, the underlying message contained within Norma's letter is far more worrying, particularly if she has the ear of her Honourable family members, that in order to get the pro-British message across to Argentina we should sacrifice what possibly makes the Falklands the Falklands and not simply some English village which happens to lie 8,000 miles from London.

The history and culture of a country are inexorably linked to language and to suggest that we start to sever linguistic ties with South America in case the Argies get the wrong idea, is ludicrous.

What about "che" (or "chay", depending on your spelling preference) or "pasolibre", or even "Camp"? Should we do away with these staple expressions simply because they reveal not only our geographical location but also our historic links with the continent? A number of years ago the Penguin News published a series of Falklands words which had been compiled by a team of volunteers and even I with my failing memory can recall the entertainment and pride it caused. It proved we had a language of our own to be preserved, including gems like "palinky."

However, if Norma has her way, a work of historic revision could sort out all those pesky place names, particularly on East Falkland, which hint at a Spanish blemish somewhere in our history - such as Laguna Isla, Paragon and Bombilla - which could all be wiped off the map and replaced with suitable English toponymy.

Anyone fancy Upper and Lower Wibble in place of the San Carloses?

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