Cub Driver wrote:

If true, it reinforces my belief that renaming tidal waves as
tsunamis
was a really really stupid thing to do. We all knew what a tidal wave
was! And I bet the secretary of the prime minister of Sri Lanka knew
also.

Actually, I believe tsunami is one of those weird hemisphere-dependent
words that depends on where the event occurs. Just like "typhoon" in
east Asia and "hurricane" in North America. So I don't think it's a
renaming. If one of those things hits California it'll probably still
be called a "tidal wave".

Jim Rosinski