1. McCutcheon starts with a story about how “Mount Everest” was named. Why, after this example, does McCutcheon argue that the names we give to things may tell us more about the namer than they do about the things being named?
2. What were the six names for the mountain that McCutcheon talks about? What does this show us about the nature of naming?
3. Why does he say that the story in “The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain” was not really about a mountain, but about group identity?
4. What is the difference between the terms ISIS and ISIL? Why does the group prefer IS? What does this say about the politics of naming?
5. Why does the Egyptian government want the group to be called QSIS? What does this say about the politics of naming?