"Friendlies" no more

China's Olympic mascots may get a new name, a move that would cost organizers millions to replace souveniers and promotional materials. The organizing committee for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games said the mascots, known collectively as "friendlies", will now go back to the Pinyin form of their Chinese name "fuwa". The South China Morning Post said the decision was made a couple of weeks ago but could only be confirmed yesterday. The five mascots were unveiled at a ceremony in November but some have questioned the name. A PhD candidate from Lanzhou University first raised the issue in a letter to a local paper in Gansu province, saying that "friendlies" could be broken down into "friend" and "lies" and is too close to "friendless".