News: 1616073250

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Something fishy is going on in Taiwan as folk change name to include 'salmon' for free sushi

(2021/03/18)


So it turns out there is such a thing as a free lunch – if you're Taiwanese and are OK with changing your ID card to include "salmon".

Thanks to a promotional campaign run by a sushi chain offering an all-you-can-eat feast for anyone with an ID card featuring the Chinese characters "gui yu" and five friends, "about 150 mostly young people" went ahead and made the tweak, [1]Agence France-Presse reports .

[2]

The island nation allows citizens to change their name up to three times, and the lure of complimentary seafood and rice was enough to reel in student types.

The ensuing administrative work, dubbed "salmon chaos" by local media, has resulted in such fintastic monikers as "Salmon Prince", "Meteor Salmon King", and "Salmon Fried Rice".

[3]

Well, when opportunaty knocks...

Explosive Good Looking Salmon told telly news: "I just changed my name this morning to add the characters 'Bao Cheng Gui Yu' and we already ate more than Tw$7,000 (£176)."

Another gillty party admitted: "I've changed my first name to salmon and two of my friends also did. We'll just change our names back afterwards."

Ofishals were quick to raise the [4]salmon of doubt , and deputy interior minister Chen Tsung-yen issued a plea in the media to scale back on the mischief and really mullet over before taking such action. "This kind of name change not only wastes time but causes unnecessary paperwork," he said, adding that people should "cherish administrative resources."

[5]

You could say the Taiwan government has been schooled on how their system might be open to abuse. Sadly, the promotion ended today. ®

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[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/18/taiwan-official-urges-people-to-stop-changing-their-name-to-salmon

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YFOHLO6UZjW@4a2srLBiQwAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YFOHLO6UZjW@4a2srLBiQwAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[4] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/359.The_Salmon_of_Doubt

[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YFOHLO6UZjW@4a2srLBiQwAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[6] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/

Explosive Good Looking Salmon

gerdesj

Bingo!

I've got a hunch

Pascal Monett

I think reastaurant chains in Taiwan are going to think twice before trying to pull this kind of stunt again.

I never knew there was a country in this world that allowed you to change you name like some games do. I live in France. If I wanted to change my name, I'd have to go before a judge and get it approved. Not impossible, far from, but a far cry from submitting a web form and getting it done.

Re: I've got a hunch

CuChulainn

Good post.

Mind you, I guess it's still slightly easier in France than when there was a monarchy, and only the monarch could approve name changes.*

*Information garnered from reading Hugo's Les Misérables .

Re: I've got a hunch

Fr. Ted Crilly

You'd be shocked how easy in the UK it is, a simple Sworn (in front of a suitably 'approved person, Notary Public, Solicitor or Barrister) document will siffice for ALL uses including a applying for a passeport [DONT loose the original hand signed one!]. It can be more formally be executed through the High Court Queens Bench Division but it's not an absolute requirement.

Simply puntatsic

Dabooka

'Ofishals were quick to raise the salmon of doubt, and deputy interior minister Chen Tsung-yen issued a plea in the media to scale back on the mischief and really mullet over before taking such action.'

Oh well done

Evil Auditor

A former first minister would have had quite an advantage.

Anonymous Coward

The current First Minister is a bit fishy too...

macjules

But only in a caviar cavalier sort of way.

An Ode to the Hungry and Broke

RM Myers

There was a young man from Taipei,

Who for Sushi could not afford to pay

I'm so tired of eating Ramen

I'll change my name to salmon

But only for a day

Paul Herber

No bones about it, we need an annual International Fish Pun Day.

anthonyhegedus

What an otter load of nonsense!

Something about dolphins can't think of a pun.

I'll get my coati

CuChulainn

Something about dolphins can't think of a pun.

Perhaps a side of Dolphinoise Potatoes might help?

RedRichie

Should have saved this article for Fryday.

"So here's a picture of reality: (picture of circle with lots of sqiggles in it) As we all know, reality is a mess."

-- Larry Wall (Open Sources, 1999 O'Reilly and Associates)