• abbiistabbii@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    19 hours ago

    Scottish person here, no we do not.

    This is a well-known scam that perpetrates a myth that you can become a lord or lady by owning land in Scotland. There is not, and never was a law saying that. If that was the case, my parents would be a lord and lady because we own land in Scotland (my house). In reality, my dad is banned from any official honours. No seriously. Its pretty based.

    The firm running the scam claims the money goes to reforesting schemes in the highlands. It does not. If you want to contribute to reforesting in the highlands, look up the national trust for Scotland or the Scottish wildlife trust.

    The title of lord is not one that you can buy by getting land in Scotland, it is the British equivalent of senator. I want you to imagine if someone claims that if you a square metre of land in Alaska. You can call yourself a senator.

    • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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      4 hours ago

      To me, I never thought the part about the titles was true. It felt very tongue in cheek. To me the bigger scandal is that it’s illegal to subdivide land that small and sell it as souvenir plots of land. So even when you strip away the part that most people understand is a gag, you’re still not even getting the thing they say you do.

      Like if someone said “I’ll send you a plastic crown to be pretend to be a king” but they never actually give you one.

    • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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      5 hours ago

      (un) related fun fact: you can make up your own title in most countries.

      The only titles you can’t use, are those that would imply that you have authority or qualifications that you do not.

      Since being a “Lord” is basically meaningless in North America, you can literally just… Call yourself a Lord. No payment required.

      But you can’t go around saying you’re a doctor, or a veteran of any kind, or something like that… That shit will get you in trouble.

      • krunklom@lemmy.zip
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        2 hours ago

        You’ve just inspired me. Many estates have grandiose names. I am naming my apartment swamphole, and I am now the lord of swamphole.

    • Avicenna@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      “YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS LEGAL LOOPHOLE IN SCOTLAND!”

      “This just may be the coolest gift ever” - FORBES

      Just a quick google reveals there are like dozens of different websites that claim to do this lol

    • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
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      7 hours ago

      My last bottle of Laphroaig came with a deed to a square foot of bog, can I come visit? I promise I’ll behave…

      • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        You can’t get a lordship just by owning land and you can’t sell a sq meter of land who cares what trust pilot says?

        • Nexyte@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          I just checked trustpilot after reading all this. Actually I did order there because I heard of that stuff in multiple podcasts. I thought the lord/ladyship would just be a title for fun and the money would go towards reforestation. (I know that the titles and ownership of the land are without any legal ground.)

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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        5 hours ago

        I believe that this is one of the core scammers in this whole scheme.

        There’s whole documentary style videos on it, how it’s a scam, and that they’re largely just pocketing the money.

        But if it makes you happy to have paid $100 for a piece of paper that says Lord/Lady (your name here), then I don’t see why you would care, if that’s what you are getting from it.

        • Nexyte@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Also, the thought of having a tree planted on a designated plot was a nice thought. I’ll look for a documentary on that topic. Sadly, I didn’t know before.

      • abbiistabbii@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        19 hours ago

        So he was a civil servant (nothing big, photographer and graphic design dept, some of his maps are in a preserved nuclear bunker in Fife) and one day the nurses went on strike and he (despite not being a nurse) walked out in solidarity. He was dragged in front of his boss who told him he was now banned from any official honours, meaning he couldn’t become a Knight, get an OBE, CBE, MBE, get a George Cross or become a Lord.

    • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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      19 hours ago

      The title of lord is not one that you can buy by getting land in Scotland

      That’s why they call it ‘Laird’

      * smartly taps temple*