Fw: "esquivalience" is out

[Joel S. Berson]

At 10/7/2005 11:49 PM, you wrote:
>Interesting you mention cartography.  Wasn't it precisely the
>practice of (some?) traditional map-makers to deliberately invent an
>error in the form of (for example) a fictitious island that would be
>included on their maps so that anyone else reproducing that same
>island on their map could be exposed as a plagiarist?  Nobody is
>talking about creating new continents or sublexicons, but the
>occasional small island or word seems harmless enough.  (And
>occasionally piquant--cf. "The Island of the Map-Maker's Wife" by
>Marilyn Sides, a story in her eponymous collection from ten or so
>years ago.)
>
>Larry

Didn't some map-makers deliberately invent hazards (e.g. reefs) to
protect valuable places from other nations?  (The Spanish, for
sources of valuable metals and gems?)

Joel