经济学人下载: 红人队改名风波(1)

United States
美国版块

Nomenclature
命名

Skin in the name
名字的表皮

An American-football team finally sheds its moniker
一支美国足球队终于改名了

Since he bought the Redskins in 1999, Daniel Snyder’s position on his team’s long-controversial name has been clear. “We’ll never change the name,” he told a reporter seven years ago. “It’s that simple. NEVER—you can use caps.” He and other defenders claimed the name honoured Native Americans—a view not shared by many Native Americans themselves.
自从丹尼尔·斯奈德在1999年买下红人队以来，他对于球队长期备受争议的名字的立场一直很明确。七年前，他对一位记者说：“我们永远不会改名。”“就这么简单。永远不会，你可以用大写字母标出来。”他和其他捍卫者声称这个名字表示了对印第安人的尊敬，而这一观点并没有得到许多印第安人的认同。

Mr Snyder stuck to his guns through demonstrations outside his games, political pressure, even losing federal trademark protections because the team’s name and images were deemed “disparaging to Native Americans” (a ruling later reversed on First Amendment grounds). But on July 13th, after coming under pressure from sponsors including FedEx, which pays the team $8m per year for naming rights to its stadium, Mr Snyder announced the name and logo (a Native American in profile, with feathers in his hair) would be retired.
斯奈德坚持自己的立场，通过比赛外的示威、政治压力、甚至失去了联邦商标保护，因为球队的名字和标志被认为是“对美国原住民的蔑视”（这一裁决后来因第一修正案被推翻）。但是在7月13日，联邦快递等赞助商进行施压，联邦快递每年向球队支付800美元的冠名权，斯奈德宣布将停止使用这个名字和标志（一个头发上插着羽毛的印第安人的面部侧影）。

Its new name remains unclear, but the jokes all but wrote themselves: the Washington Pundits, Kickbacks, Internal Polls (which would, of course, always show them ahead). More serious possibilities include the dreary, hackneyed Warriors; the Redtails, honouring the black Tuskegee Airmen, who fought in the second world war; and the Red Wolves, which like the Redtails would let the team keep its burgundy- and-gold colours. MrSnyder reportedly has chosen a name currently bogged down in a trademark fight— and indeed, an enterprising actuary from the Washington suburbs has registered trademarks for around a dozen possible team names.
红人队的新名字尚不明确，但是有些名字与他们自身的笑柄相关：华盛顿权威人士、回扣、内部民调（当然，这样的名字始终显示在前面）。还可能有一些更严肃的名字，包括枯燥陈腐的战士；红尾蛇，纪念二战中的黑獠牙飞行员；还有红狼，这个名字和红尾蛇一样，可以让球队保有其深红色和金色。据报道，斯奈德选择了一个目前陷入商标战的名字，事实上，华盛顿郊区一位E型的精算师已经为大约12个可能的球队名称注册了商标。