Canadians are not much good at naming -- who else would have traded in 'Dominion Day' for 'Canada Day'? Then there's the way every institution has to be named the Canadian X (CBC, CNE, CMHC, NGC, CMC, CFL...). Because we have to insist that Canada too has an X -- not a very big X, of course, not the X, not an X with any distinguishing features, just a little X of our very own. And if we called it the National X most Canadians would think it was American.
So it seems worth pointing out that 'the King-Byng Affair' is a genuinely kick-ass meme. It has that proto-Ludlum, welthistorische-diplomatische resonance -- right up there with Molotov-Ribbentrop, the Balfour Declaration, and the War of Jenkin's Ear, but with a slightly P.G. Wodehouse assonance all its own. And we don't need to call it the Canadian King-Byng Affair, now do we?
So now that we have a bit of a lull in Nameless Crisis, let's all get cracking on a name for it.
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2 comments:
The Threadkiller is waiting patiently for Dr. B's parsing of the resurgence (like that of the proverbial bad penny) of Ian Brodie as lobbyist ("PM's former advisor accused of peddling access to corridors of power").
Calling it "Igwatch" is kind of growing on me.
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