According to medical experts, addiction to the synthetic methamphetamine nicknamed “ice” can cause severe mood swings, violent hallucinations, paranoia, psychosis, and unpredictable bouts of aggression as well as kidney disease, liver failure, brain damage, stroke and death. Despite these dangers, cities and towns around the world are reporting that the addiction rates to this drug have reached epidemic portions. In New Zealand, the town of Wellington has been so decimated by ice that residents and visitors have nicknamed the tiny town “The South Pole”.

Wellington is not the first city to be bestowed a nickname inspired by residents’ drug consumption. US American rap artist, Big Moe, named the city of Houston, Texas the “City of Syrup” to draw attention to the rising rate of residents addicted to codeine-infused cough syrup. The progressive marijuana policies of Canada’s Pacific Northwest metropolis of Vancouver has inspired some insiders to nickname the green city Vansterdam, a blend of the place names Vancouver and Amsterdam, another city known for its liberal marijuana laws.

For more information about this phenomenon, see this article and this article.

Finnian Galbraith, a teenager from New Zealand is doing his best to protect one of his country’s most precious treasures, the Māori language. In an instructional YouTube video, Finnian warns that the growing tendency of New Zealanders to mispronounce Maori names is not simply irritating, it is potentially damaging to the nation’s precious cultural heritage. “Now, I’m no expert,” the young man concedes, “but I’m willing to learn and that is what counts.” With more than 100,000 clicks in less than two days, Finnian’s cinematic plea for the preservation of indigenous words and names is a resounding internet hit.

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Lüderitz, a small Namibian harbor town located off the coast of Africa, was founded in 1883 and named after a well-to-do tobacco trader, Adolf Lüderitz, from Bremen, Germany. Originally a trading post and fishing town, Lüderitz achieved sudden global notoriety at the turn of the century when a small pocket of diamonds were found. After the mines closed, the name of the former German colony was all but forgotten…until this year when the current Mayor, Suzan Ndjaleka, publicly called for an official name change.

According to Ndjaleka, the name is offensive to the Nama people who were decimated during the European occupation. In just a few decades, some 80% of the Nama’s original population had perished in the colonial genocide. In recognition of this town’s original African ancestry, Ndjaleka and her supporters have lobbied to change the harbor town’s name from Lüderitz to !Nam’Nus.

Critics of the proposal have charged that such a name change would endanger the critical yearly income that the town receives from droves of curious European tourists. The opponents also charge that the proposed name is alienating to town residents who do not speak the local indigenous click language.

At the moment, the town is sharply divided.

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