This paper argues that names for gifts are a useful vantage point to study the dynamics of change. Beginning with examples of today's exchanges, it looks at the social value of terms for exchanges on Dobu Island, Papua New Guinea. On Dobu, the monetary system has been adapted to fit into local conditions of gift-giving. At the same time, the islanders' needs for monetary wealth rather than local prestige have an impact on the exchange of gifts. As the complex system of old, with its specific terms for ceremonial gifts, has lost its appeal as a road to power in today's world, 'expensive' words of old are devaluated and new terms of 'expensive' context, like mani (money) are gaining social value in everyday practice. The dichotomy of gift and commodity is too narrow to explain the creative ways in which the islanders come to terms with globalisation.