A Rose By Any Other Name

"A rose by any other name, is still a rose" is how the saying goes. If one thing is known as such in one place, but referred to as another name elsewhere, the object in question is still the same.

Not entirely true. Not these days, in the age of copyright infringements and such. A kleenex made by any other company, is a facial tissue, even though people will often request a "kleenex" be passed to them. Photocopies are the same. I've heard the term "Xerox this" more than a few times, even though the copy machine was a Canon or a Ricoh.

A term that's always boggled my mind, however, was U.F.O. Generally, an Unidentified Flying Object should refer to any indescribable piece of crap flying through the air. Instead, it's automatically associated with flying saucers and little green men, bent on global invasion. Even when used to clearly explain the inexplicable, people automatically jump to the conclusion that it's alien-associated, and therefore you're either high on drugs or a mental crackpot.

I was watching an episode of SyFy's "Fact or Faked", in which the team investigated a trio of lights that were noticed by thousands over Time's Square in NYC, then again two days later over El Paso, Texas. After a number of inventive experiments, they found success with a triad of skydivers, who dove out into the night sky, with lit flares attached to their feet. Falling first together, the three then separated and formed a triangle in the night sky. The experiment duplicated the original video perfectly, and furthermore, it was revealed by the Air Force in the area, that it was three of their personnel practicing for an air show, on the night in question.

However, on the night that the "Fact or Faked" team were performing the experiments over a Los Angeles night sky, 911 was swarmed with reports of UFO's in the sky. Although, SyFy came forward to reveal that they were responsible for the mysterious light show, many were in doubt, opting instead to believe they were flying saucers.

Those concerned, were correct in their equating the lights over L.A., as being unidentified flying objects, once the flying objects (which were actually falling objects), were identified, they still referred to them as U.F.O.'s.

So a rose by any other name is still a rose.., and an idiot by any other name..., is still an idiot!