Nelson Mandela or Desmond Tutu?

I warmly recommend the research into some second- and third-rate countries' names freely offered by No Good Boyo here. By the way, an alternative name I would offer for the unhappy Moldova is Mititei. Some people claim it's a Romanian invention - shame on them!

Anyway, I was thrilled and delighted to see the idea of a new name proposed for Israel - "Nelson Mandela". Indeed, let's hear them shouting "Death to Nelson Mandela". Solid idea, I say.

Upon a second thought, though, I started to entertain some doubts. While "Nelson Mandela" rolls quite easily off the tongue, it may have some unwanted associations. "Nelson" has some self-explanatory militaristic connotations, aside of that second meaning - the Nelson hold and half-Nelson hold... Then there is Winnie Mandela, and some people will re-interpret our name again. No, the more I look into it, the less I like it.

But still, the idea is sound, and along its lines another name beacons, this time beyond any possibility of a reproach: Desmond Tutu. Of course, "Desmond" should be put aside as it sounds too posh for uncouth Israelis and for future use - just in case. The remaining "Tutu" is a clear winner. First of all, it rolls even better than "Mandela", not to mention the suspect "Nelson". Secondly, Tutu easily associates with something graceful and light, for instance:

Anna Pavlova in Giselle, wearing a Romantic Tutu

Now, the most important thing: try to shout (at the top of your voice, of course): "Death to Tutu!" and see if you don't sound (and look) as a blithering idiot. Not that it will stop all the folks who shout today "Death to Israel", since some of them already belong to the latter category, but it will definitely stop the majority.

Yep. It definitely works.