TIBET: Call It Chomolungma

A century ago, British surveyors, measuring the towering Himalayas on the Nepal-Tibet border, found the world’s highest mountain: 29,141 feet. Tibetan natives called it Chomolungma, meaning “Goddess Mother of Mountains,” but the British named it after Sir George Everest, the crack surveyor who charted much of India. Last week Red Peking, which recently gobbled up Tibet, decreed that Everest (which no one has ever climbed to the summit) will hereafter be known by its ancient name, Chomolungma.