This was just too good not to post immediately.
If you'd like to be a Laird or a Lady of the Highlands, here's your chance: buy a square foot of Scotland.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Writing Pro Since 1998
Original site content copyright 2004-2019 by Sheila Kelly
All rights reserved
Paperback Writer ISSN# 2159-9424
Technically, you'd lose your US citizenship if you did that!
ReplyDeleteBut, hey, I think that I may have a "right" to call myself the Princess or Grand Princess or something-or-other of Kiev because of the peculiarities of Eastern European title usage and inheritance. ;-) Me and, oh, 20 or 30 million other people.... Yeah. So special.
Laird, or Lord, means 'owner' or 'landlord', not an aristocrat.
ReplyDeleteI also note the site has listed "Scotland, Europe." Scotland is nae in Europe. Tis offensive t' suggest such a thing! Och, as a descendent of at least one wee famous Scot, I'll be thankin' ye t' remember Sco'land ha' nowt t' do with Europe! An' Highlands, is it? As a Borderer, I'll say the lowlands are quite pleasan' this time 'o year. Aye, aye, pleasan' indeed...
They're doing something similar in outback Australia, except you get a square metre. (That's about 9 square feet - but then we've got one hell of a lot more land.)
ReplyDeleteJust wait 'til they discover something valuable and have to get planning permission from 275,000 land owners...
Found it:
ReplyDelete"No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State."
A) It probably isn't considered directly from the state, so that's okay. (Though it IS "a" title, though not one of peerage)
B) And if it were, you just couldn't run for public office. ;-)
So there's no chance of there ever being a President William H. Gates III, KBE then?
ReplyDeleteThank god for that.
My brother once owned a square inch of Alaska.
ReplyDeleteA Corn Flakes promo, I think.
Must be inflation.