Australia is called "The Commonwealth of Australia", usually
abbreviated to "Australia." So what? It's a description. It's a name.
No big deal. China is called "The People's Republic of China", but
usually referred to as "China." Still no big deal. Obviously, as with
the old names "German Democratic Republic" or "Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics", the description does not have to be accurate in
every respect, to be a name, nonetheless.

On Thu, Jul 3, 2008 at 7:20 PM, JP May <jpm@...> wrote:

> Rather, it of course does have an official name ("The United States of
> America") but that name is: stupid.
>
> Why is it stupid? Because it's not a "name" but rather a "description."
>
> Indeed, "The United Kingdom," say, is similarly a stupid official name,
> because it's not a "name" but rather a "description."
>
> If China was called "The united states of asia" that would be - stupid.