Finnish Computer Store Buys Teen's Name

jones_supa writes "Sheboygan Press tells a story of an American youngster called Calvin Gosz who was selling a right to his name in eBay. The auction site later removed the item as inappropriate. However, the 'Newegg of Finland,' Verkkokauppa.com caught on the idea and contacted Calvin via Facebook. For $5,000 Mr. Gosz changed his name to Verkkokauppa Com. Gosz, who moved to Sheboygan from Florida in September, said the name change was an idea to raise money after many unsuccessful attempts in finding a job. 'That company has been great to me. I was just surprised they actually transferred the money. Nice of them to help me out like that,' Calvin comments. He is eligible to change his name back after two months."

And here I thought that the idea was...

[John Hasler]

...for them to change their name to Calvin Gosz.

What's in a name?

[Whiteox]

Interestingly, GOSZ is Hungarian in origin, and Verkkokauppa.com is Finnish.
Now not many people know this, but the Fins and the Hungarians share the same language root. Well, the Fins and the Hungarians know and so do the Estonians who speak a version of Finnish ....

Re:

[ikajaste]

A small linguistic correction: Estonians speak a version - or rather a descendant - of (something like) the proto-Finno-Ugric language. This is most definitely not version of Finnish, since Finnish itself is also a version of such proto-Finno-Ugric language. Both of these current languages belong to the same group of Baltic-Finnic, or Finnic languages, which are a subset of the larger group of Finno-Ugric languages. Now something like Kven language would indeed be a version - or a dialect - of Finnish, but

Re:

[Whiteox]

You're right re: Estonian. Yet I've heard that the Estonians can understand Finn TV, so that's where that came from. However Hungarian is the Ugric language only vaguely shared by the Mansi and Khanti. Once they disappear which would be in a generation or two, Hungarian would be the sole surviving Ugric language.

Re:

[ikajaste]

Although the languages are considered mutually intelligible, understanding Estonian is to a Finnish native quite a task. You can usually decipher the context pretty easily, but the exact message is much more of a problem. Especially you have to be really careful about some common, or common-sounding words that have a different meaning. :)

Re:

[Whiteox]

Especially you have to be really careful about some common, or common-sounding words that have a different meaning. :)

There must be some good Estonian:Finn jokes then :)