this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2025
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[–] tal -4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Trump cannot rename the Gulf of Mexico. It’s not land that the US owns. It’s international waters.

A country can specify use of an official name internally. They cannot compel outside countries to use it. But a leader could tell the government that he runs to use it. If it has laws -- which the US does not -- which can compel people internally to use that, a country could do that. Even in the US, private organizations are not legally-required to call it "Gulf of America".

It's also not all that unusual for names to differ across countries.

We call Germany "Germany" in the US, rather than "Deutschland", even though Germany isn't within US borders.

It's unusual for leadership to require their government to do so, though I'm sure that there are prior examples, probably over territorial disputes. In this case, it's pretty lame -- I mean, this isn't even popular with the American public as a whole, just part of the political theater stuff. It's probably kind of antagonizing to Mexico. But Mexico doesn't have the ability to specify what the US government calls it -- Trump does.

Am I going to use "Gulf of America"? No. I'm going to keep using "Gulf of Mexico", and I expect that it'll be changed back once Trump is out of office (though the whole Denali/Mount McKinley thing might stick).

[–] Xanza@lemm.ee 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

A country can specify use of an official name internally.

Which is not renaming. That's not what that word means.

But a leader could tell the government that he runs to use it.

Yes, this is exactly what I've said. Trump spent tens of millions telling his own Government to change the designation of a location that we don't own, and people suck his dick like he did something amazing. He quite literally wasted everyone's time and money for nothing.

Even in the US, private organizations are not legally-required to call it “Gulf of America”.

This is incorrect. Google, a private organization is legally required to call it the Gulf of America because they're a defense contractor.

It’s not that unusual for names to differ across countries.

This isn't a difference in language. It's been called the Gulf of Mexico globally since 1550. So for 475 years every single country in the world has called it by its proper name, and now, for no reason whatsoever, we call it something different. The sheer ignorance and stupidity of it is positively baffling--most of all because people pretend like it's not a big deal.

[–] tal -2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Which is not renaming. That’s not what that word means.

Sure it is. It's altering the name that the federal government uses -- that's a rename. It's not renaming it from Mexico's standpoint. There is absolutely nothing about "rename" that requires it specify what some other entity uses. Trump can rename the thing from the US government's standpoint, and the Mexican government can rename it from their standpoint.

Google, a private organization is legally required to call it the Gulf of America because they’re a defense contractor.

Ah, fair enough, that might be true...though I suspect that that's not true of what it does outside of government contracting. Not generally true of private stuff, though.

EDIT: No, I'm pretty sure that you're incorrect. I can't find reference to any ties to their contracting status, and Google's saying that it's their choice here:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/01/28/google-maps-will-show-gulf-of-america-and-mt-mckinley-to-us-users/

The company said it has a “longstanding practice” of applying name changes when they have been “updated in official government sources” and for the U.S. that would be the names displayed by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).

[–] Xanza@lemm.ee 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I quite literally don't have the mental fortitude to fight with your incompetence. It absolutely amazes me that we live in a day and a time when people like you don't understand what renaming something is. It makes me want to fucking cry--how we could have fallen so far as a civilization...

See my analogy about the school principal. I pray you're smart enough to connect the dots, but I'm not holding out hope.

I can’t find reference to this, and Google’s saying that it’s their choice here:

Of course it's their choice. In the same way that it's your choice whether or not to pay taxes. That doesn't mean there's no consequences if you don't.