Hey, give them some credit, they have some diversity - there's place in europe, new place in europe, mispronounced place in europe, british ruler, catholic saint in spanish, american president, explorer related to america, and of course native american place/tribe, and random native american word
These days you can't even tell the name comes from the area. They use old words to describe it. An area with a hill could be called a "Something-bjer". Bjer means hill and is close to the modern word Berg but if you don't know about it then you don't think about it.
Sure, we could have old barn road. But I am not talking about roads. More like City names, local village names, local area names and such.
Unless you are from Sweden it's not that surprising you never heard about "bjer" haha. I only learned about it pretty recently and I am born and raised here š The majority of people probably never think about why places are named the way they are
In Oklahoma we just use the name of whatever tribe was forcibly relocated there. Although I know of one town that was named after a misspelling of an indian chief's name. The Apollo 14 CSM pilot lived there.
i think i'm kind of superimposing the prayers and acknowledgements because (1) the last one i was at was at a church and it was kind of both, (2) i'm a church musician and when all you've got is a hammer, and (3) like, statesia. prayers. you know.
one of my grandfathers was one of the kids stolen from his tribe (fuck if we know which one) by the mormons as part of their Indian Placement Program (theologically they wanted to turn the natives white. don't get me started). so like, i don't want to sear all white people with the same brand, but like, sometimes the acknowledgements feel like a bandaid. okay most of the time.
all i know is it fucked up my grandfather something terrible
Yeah, people from that city or place moved there and named their new home after their old home. There's a very Dutch area of Michigan with many immigrants from the Netherlands still there. Want to know a couple town names? Holland and Zeeland.
Can't forget Noordeloos, Vriesland, Overisel, Drenthe, and Borculo. Been to Borculo a few times. Lotsa folks with Dutch/Frisian/Low German surnames in the area, including the (in)famously wealthy Van Andel and De Vos families of Grand Rapids.
Supposedly, the phrase "if you ain't Dutch, you ain't much" used to be common here, but I've never heard it used unironically. Likely died off with time.
And at some places they even reassign them new genders: The coat of arms of Berne Switzerland has a bear with a red penis. The US town: New Berne has a bear without a penis as a coat of arms. This means during the sea transport, Berne's bear outed themselves as Transgender and changed their sex to a lady-bear. (At least in my head cannon)
It would be amazing if they had arrived to the Americas and ask some natives about how they call a place and they said "this? This is New Amsterdam. We don't know what's Amsterdam but this is a newer version of it"
This reminds me of a story about a French ship that landed someplace, and a native of the area walked down the beach and greeted them, saying "Bonjour." Shocked that the locals spoke perfect French, the sailors asked "Parlez-vous francais??" and the local, confusedly asked "what did you say?" in the local language.
As it turns out, both the local language and French had apparently arrived at more or less the exact same word for a greeting by pure coincidence.
That sometimes leads to confusing results. When Europeans arrived on the Saint Lawrence river they asked what they called the place. The indigenous people thought they were asking about what the word for village was so told them that word. Then every village they went they thought they were asking the name of the place but were actually asking "is this a village?" and the response was "yes, this is a village." So that led to the assumption the entire region was called that.
Yeah so the indigenous word for "village" was "canada". Woops! When they figured out the mistake it was already on all the maps, so whatever I guess.
There's a lot of places in America that are named after native American tribes. I guess it's the least our predecessors could do considering how badly they fucked over and slaughtered the natives.
"Yeah, we're naming this river after you guys in honor of your stewardship of the environment. No, it's not going to catch on fire or anything like that. How could a river catch on fire?"
Sure but calling them Americans is likely, mostly, sorta true but also ignores an important fact... They were Europeans (or near descendants of) calling the places that. Often a place was named that place because it reminded them of home / to honor their parents home.
True, but I think we may be the only country other than India to name a major city after another major city in the same country. Portland Oregon was named after Portland Maine
Don't forget the number of places named Springfield. A quick search pulls up an article that puts the number at at least 30 different places in the US.
"Ink, AR" because when it was time to name the town a questionnaire was circulated to solicit suggestions, and the top of the form said "write in ink". Except not really goddammit.
First read this as ānaming new bornsā and I was thinking of names like Paris or London, and all of the comments kind of made sense but were still slightly off. It was a fun, confusing time for me, until I scrolled up and re-read OP. Thanks for listening to my story.
Yeah those people are idiots though. They even claim itās the Spanish words, they just donāt want to pronounce them like Spanish. So fucking stupid.
To be fair, many Spanish words are bastardizations of Arabic words. This is just how languages evolve. For example the word Guadalupe is believed to derive from Arabic wÄdÄ« al-lubb (hidden river). When people in my town pronounce it "Guadaloop," it's actually closer to the OG than the Spanish is lol
I think thereās a difference between happenstance and purposefully doing it though. What you said is very true, but not purposeful. The people in buena vista know they are mispronouncing it, yet they still call it Spanish and they still do it. Either donāt call it Spanish or donāt do it.
I mean, the Christian precursors to Spain were at war with a series of Islamic Caliphates on the Iberian Peninsula for the better part of 800 years. They didn't like each other very much. It's totally likely they intentionally mispronounced words
I don't know how to tell you this bud, but willful ignorance is a global phenomenon. For instance, some people think US Americans are the only dumbshits in the world, when, in fact, they are just the loudest
Ohio also has a town named Versailles. Imagine the worst way to pronounce the name of the historical palace in France. That's right, they pronounce it (VUR - SAY- els).
and the original European names are also pretty functional:
I believe Amsterdam is just "River Dam"
And York is just "Yew", presumably named after trees that grew there. (Eburacon -> Eboracum -> Eoforwic -> JĆ³rvĆk -> York)
But New York in the United States isn't even directly named after the English city of York, but rather a person (James Stuart) who was the Duke of York when England took control of the territory from the Dutch.
Well, the Capitol of Minnesota could have been called Pigs Eye after a French Canadian fur trapper if it wasn't for a Catholic priest changing it to St Paul.
Lots of inland American cities are named after the famous port city of China, Canton, which is formally known as Guangzhou.
I don't know why it was such a popular pick back in the day, but I'm guessing it has to do with this:
The port of Guangzhou serves as a transportation hub. Guangzhou is also one of China's three largest cities.[10] For a long time, it was the only Chinese port accessible to the Europeans
Canton and Cantonese is actually the english name derived from the Portuguese transliteration of the region when they first started ocean trading with China.
I checked and nah, most of them explicitly state China as the name origin and one of them is even close to another town called Nankin which was named after Nanjing lol.
170 Comments
TabbsTheBat@pawb.social · 79 pts · 80d
Hey, give them some credit, they have some diversity - there's place in europe, new place in europe, mispronounced place in europe, british ruler, catholic saint in spanish, american president, explorer related to america, and of course native american place/tribe, and random native american word
cattywampas@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 80d
I think you're just describing how the etymology of most named places works.
DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 80d
In my country we name places after the surrounding area/environment. If it's an area with a big hill it will probably have a name to reflect that.
TachyonTele_Esq@piefed.social · 3 pts · 80d
I love visiting other areas "Old Barn Rd", and "Swamp Rd"
DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 80d
These days you can't even tell the name comes from the area. They use old words to describe it. An area with a hill could be called a "Something-bjer". Bjer means hill and is close to the modern word Berg but if you don't know about it then you don't think about it.
Sure, we could have old barn road. But I am not talking about roads. More like City names, local village names, local area names and such.
TachyonTele_Esq@piefed.social · 2 pts · 79d
Gotcha.
That's interesting, I've never heard of bjer before
DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 79d
Unless you are from Sweden it's not that surprising you never heard about "bjer" haha. I only learned about it pretty recently and I am born and raised here š The majority of people probably never think about why places are named the way they are
TachyonTele_Esq@piefed.social · 1 pts · 79d
I was thinking you meant in the US, like in New England or something. Glad I learned a new thing already today
fushuan@piefed.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 78d
Now way, are suggesting about Matamoros what I think you are suggesting? ( ā_ā)
TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 80d
Americans can't pronounce Illinois
foggy@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 80d
Illin-wah
BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz · 5 pts · 80d
Nāwah!
protist@retrofed.com · 6 pts · 80d
Kansas
Arkansas
Kansas
Arkansas
albbi@piefed.ca · 7 pts · 80d
Kansas and pirate Kansas
UnpledgedCatnapTipper@piefed.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 80d
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U7X7cEh5au8&pp=0gcJCUECo7VqN5tD
pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 80d
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVPsbr9tz60
crunchy@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 80d
There's a town in Illinois called Sauget with an ongoing debate over how to pronounce it. None of the dozens of pronunciations are what you'd think.
foggy@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 80d
I vote they settle on changing the name to sausage.
TeamAssimilation@infosec.pub · 3 pts · 80d
The Spanish names barely count because those were originally Mexican and had been named before USA was born.
ShutUpWesley@piefed.zip · 64 pts · 80d
In the west coast we typically just used the name of the native tribe we killed in order to take the land.
jaybone@lemmy.zip · 14 pts · 80d
Or the Spanish name from when the Spanish took the land a couple hundred years before.
CADmonkey@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 80d
In Oklahoma we just use the name of whatever tribe was forcibly relocated there. Although I know of one town that was named after a misspelling of an indian chief's name. The Apollo 14 CSM pilot lived there.
pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 80d
I wouldn't know anything about that here in siŹaɬ.
LodeMike@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 80d
That's OK though /j
finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 80d
Yes, I visited Themdamninjuns last time I went through Illinois.
funkajunk@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 80d
If you are making multiple asides, the standard approach is to use square brackets within the first parentheses, not double parentheses.
e.g.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 80d
footnotes^1^.
^1^gotta use^2^
^2^go^3^tcha
^3^ better footnotes
finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 80d
Thank you. I think I have it now.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 80d
Nah I prefer feeling like Iām reading a 90ās chain email.
jaybone@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 80d
I had not heard of this before. Usually those are used when adding text to a quote for clarification. Is this mainly a British English thing?
TachyonTele_Esq@piefed.social · 1 pts · 80d
It's professional writing. It's like when people complain how titles have capital letters in them, is just a form of writing.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 80d
and then we say a prayer thanking the tribe every sunday at church, don't forget that
davidgro@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 80d
They do it before everything from sports to classical music where I am.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 80d
do they explicitly thank the tribe in the prayer?
i know they're trying, but it's kind of ridiculous.
davidgro@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 80d
It's not actually a prayer, just an acknowledgement. But yes.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 80d
i think i'm kind of superimposing the prayers and acknowledgements because (1) the last one i was at was at a church and it was kind of both, (2) i'm a church musician and when all you've got is a hammer, and (3) like, statesia. prayers. you know.
one of my grandfathers was one of the kids stolen from his tribe (fuck if we know which one) by the mormons as part of their Indian Placement Program (theologically they wanted to turn the natives white. don't get me started). so like, i don't want to sear all white people with the same brand, but like, sometimes the acknowledgements feel like a bandaid. okay most of the time.
all i know is it fucked up my grandfather something terrible
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · -2 pts · 79d
And yet you still support the religion of the colonizers. You should take your talent elsewhere.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 79d
i do? lay out your stupid argument. I'll hear it ONCE.
valar@lemmy.ca · 33 pts · 80d
It was Europeans who named those places.
drcobaltjedi@programming.dev · 13 pts · 80d
Yeah, people from that city or place moved there and named their new home after their old home. There's a very Dutch area of Michigan with many immigrants from the Netherlands still there. Want to know a couple town names? Holland and Zeeland.
igmelonh@feddit.online · 3 pts · 80d
Can't forget Noordeloos, Vriesland, Overisel, Drenthe, and Borculo. Been to Borculo a few times. Lotsa folks with Dutch/Frisian/Low German surnames in the area, including the (in)famously wealthy Van Andel and De Vos families of Grand Rapids.
Supposedly, the phrase "if you ain't Dutch, you ain't much" used to be common here, but I've never heard it used unironically. Likely died off with time.
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it · 5 pts · 80d
Well, Americans citizens were all immigrants, most were European
0x0@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 80d
Don't let ICE read that!
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it · 1 pts · 79d
Will they do self-harm if they read that?
Kennystillalive@feddit.org · 30 pts · 80d
And at some places they even reassign them new genders: The coat of arms of Berne Switzerland has a bear with a red penis. The US town: New Berne has a bear without a penis as a coat of arms. This means during the sea transport, Berne's bear outed themselves as Transgender and changed their sex to a lady-bear. (At least in my head cannon)
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 15 pts · 80d
Almost certainly typical American Puritanism.
The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 80d
Wow, history is fascinating!
BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz · 3 pts · 80d
You can still see it, it just became bigger and black and moved a bit backwards
Behold the BBBBBC (Berneās Bearās Big Black Backward Cock)
rustydrd@sh.itjust.works · 24 pts · 80d
Meanwhile, Alexander the Great: You'll be me lol
Airfried@piefed.social · 19 pts · 80d
"Americans" as in white Europeans?
daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 10 pts · 80d
It would be amazing if they had arrived to the Americas and ask some natives about how they call a place and they said "this? This is New Amsterdam. We don't know what's Amsterdam but this is a newer version of it"
EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 79d
This reminds me of a story about a French ship that landed someplace, and a native of the area walked down the beach and greeted them, saying "Bonjour." Shocked that the locals spoke perfect French, the sailors asked "Parlez-vous francais??" and the local, confusedly asked "what did you say?" in the local language.
As it turns out, both the local language and French had apparently arrived at more or less the exact same word for a greeting by pure coincidence.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 79d
"It's called Noo Amsterdam, I don't know why you think it's referencing some place we've never heard of, it just means big harbor"
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 78d
That sometimes leads to confusing results. When Europeans arrived on the Saint Lawrence river they asked what they called the place. The indigenous people thought they were asking about what the word for village was so told them that word. Then every village they went they thought they were asking the name of the place but were actually asking "is this a village?" and the response was "yes, this is a village." So that led to the assumption the entire region was called that.
Yeah so the indigenous word for "village" was "canada". Woops! When they figured out the mistake it was already on all the maps, so whatever I guess.
titanicx@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 80d
My ancestors had great names for places. Then the white invaders killed most of us and named our land after their home.
I think this meme would be better suggested to say white European immigrants to America.
Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 80d
A lot of states are named after the natives they genocided
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 80d
Exactly - they weren't "Americans" yet.
Let's name our town "New [someplace we miss back home]."
doingthestuff@lemy.lol · 2 pts · 80d
Other than the earliest settlements, most cities in the US were named by people born in North America.
DagwoodIII@piefed.social · 15 pts · 80d
Memphis, Tennessee has entered the chat, y'all.
crunchy@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 80d
Along with Paris, Tennessee
Codpiece@feddit.uk · 6 pts · 80d
Iām fairly sure Paris is Europe, not Africa.
crunchy@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 80d
Tennessee just loves being cultured. Did you know that Nashville has a full-scale replica of the Parthenon?
Slovene85@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 80d
They say of the acropolis where the Parthenon is ...
Codpiece@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 80d
Did you know Bourton On The Water model village even has its own model village? Itās like model village Inception.
0x0@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 80d
Paris, Texas has a pace in my cinematic heart.
aceshigh@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 80d
TIL itās an ancient Egyption capital.
exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 9 pts · 80d
I mean haven't you seen the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid? It's obviously a tribute to ancient Egypt.
Etterra@discuss.online · 14 pts · 80d
There's a lot of places in America that are named after native American tribes. I guess it's the least our predecessors could do considering how badly they fucked over and slaughtered the natives.
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 80d
"Yeah, we're naming this river after you guys in honor of your stewardship of the environment. No, it's not going to catch on fire or anything like that. How could a river catch on fire?"
PolyLlamaRous@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 80d
Sure but calling them Americans is likely, mostly, sorta true but also ignores an important fact... They were Europeans (or near descendants of) calling the places that. Often a place was named that place because it reminded them of home / to honor their parents home.
Some other notable examples: New Zealand
SĆ£o Carlos, Brazil
Munich, Saskatchewan
Liverpool, New South Wales
Nueva York, Colombia
thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 79d
So is nueva York named after York or new York?
melsaskca@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 79d
Even old New York was once New Amsterdam.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 79d
Why'd they change it?
greenMeanHoppinMachine@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 79d
I can't say...
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 79d
True, but I think we may be the only country other than India to name a major city after another major city in the same country. Portland Oregon was named after Portland Maine
PolyLlamaRous@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 79d
Super interesting. Didn't know that. Thanks.
EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 79d
Don't forget the number of places named Springfield. A quick search pulls up an article that puts the number at at least 30 different places in the US.
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 12 pts · 80d
"Truth and Consequences, NM"
"Dinosaur, CO"
"City of Industry, CA"
"Why Not?, NC"
SippyCup@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 80d
Springfield, yes
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 80d
"Ink, AR" because when it was time to name the town a questionnaire was circulated to solicit suggestions, and the top of the form said "write in ink". Except not really goddammit.
Magister@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 80d
Upstate NY I went to Rome, Alexandria, Mexico, Florence, Norway, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Denmark, Coppenhagen, etc
EDIT: don't forget Swastika, NY
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 79d
Don't forget Ithaca
0x0@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 80d
Well-travelled.
jaybone@lemmy.zip · 11 pts · 80d
First read this as ānaming new bornsā and I was thinking of names like Paris or London, and all of the comments kind of made sense but were still slightly off. It was a fun, confusing time for me, until I scrolled up and re-read OP. Thanks for listening to my story.
thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 80d
But you forgot, we also have to mispronounce it then get mad if you don't mispronounce it the right way.
-someone that was born in New berlin, not "new berLIN", But "new BURlin".
Dicska@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 80d
How about naming the town after a city in Austria, but still the Roman way? Not just once, not just twice, but
(EDIT: I'm having dƩja vu after the last time had I brought up the several dozen Springfields)
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 79d
That's just how Wien is spelled in English. We also pronounce it how it's spelled in English. No different from calling Ćsterreich Austria
TheEEEdiot@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 80d
For a better example: Versailles, Kentucky. Guess how that one is pronounced.
bitchkat@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 80d
I will go with ver-sales
TheEEEdiot@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 79d
Winner!
thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 80d
Oh God,I had an ex from Georgia that would hit me with these. Let's go with "verse-ay-lees".
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 79d
Verse-ales
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 79d
Shit like that is embarrassing imo
MoffKalast@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 80d
Strong levi-o-sa energy.
thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 80d
100% it's all in the emphasis. It's subtle, but just different enough that you can tell if someone is from the area based on their pronunciation.
innermachine@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 80d
Yea apperantly Worcester is pronounced "wis-tah"
titanicx@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 80d
If you think of Worcestershire sauce it make sense.
crunchy@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 9 pts · 80d
With a mangled pronunciation if the place is French!
rabidhamster@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 80d
TBF, the French should pronounce their own language right if they want the rest of us to as well.
crunchy@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 80d
French is the language of "we paid for the whole alphabet so we're going to use the whole alphabet"
jaybone@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 80d
Boom. French roasted.
Magister@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 80d
Yeah, like "Pointe au Roche", "Isle La Motte"
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 80d
More evidence that Egypt is European.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 79d
A new place of europe.
SirSamuel@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 80d
There is a small village in Ohio named Buena Vista.
The locals pronounce it in a way that rhymes with Loona Fista
perishthethought@piefed.social · 4 pts · 80d
Wow, really? We have a own with the same name in CO as well. We pronounce it like, "Byoona Vista" too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buena_Vista,_Colorado
tyler@programming.dev · 7 pts · 80d
Yeah those people are idiots though. They even claim itās the Spanish words, they just donāt want to pronounce them like Spanish. So fucking stupid.
protist@retrofed.com · 6 pts · 80d
To be fair, many Spanish words are bastardizations of Arabic words. This is just how languages evolve. For example the word Guadalupe is believed to derive from Arabic wÄdÄ« al-lubb (hidden river). When people in my town pronounce it "Guadaloop," it's actually closer to the OG than the Spanish is lol
tyler@programming.dev · 7 pts · 80d
I think thereās a difference between happenstance and purposefully doing it though. What you said is very true, but not purposeful. The people in buena vista know they are mispronouncing it, yet they still call it Spanish and they still do it. Either donāt call it Spanish or donāt do it.
protist@retrofed.com · 3 pts · 80d
I mean, the Christian precursors to Spain were at war with a series of Islamic Caliphates on the Iberian Peninsula for the better part of 800 years. They didn't like each other very much. It's totally likely they intentionally mispronounced words
perishthethought@piefed.social · 4 pts · 80d
We also have a town named Limon.
Guess how that's pronounced.
SirSamuel@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 79d
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 79d
Shit like this is just so typical American. I hate it.
SirSamuel@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 79d
I don't know how to tell you this bud, but willful ignorance is a global phenomenon. For instance, some people think US Americans are the only dumbshits in the world, when, in fact, they are just the loudest
Speculater@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 80d
There is a town in Georgia called Martinez.
They pronounced it Mart-inn-ez
TheRtRevKaiser@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 80d
Lol there's a "byoona vista" is south Ga as well.
rabidhamster@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 80d
And a Bone-a-Vista in NC.
partial_accumen@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 80d
Ohio also has a town named Versailles. Imagine the worst way to pronounce the name of the historical palace in France. That's right, they pronounce it (VUR - SAY- els).
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 79d
Lima Ohio. Pronounced lime-uh
SirSamuel@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 79d
Well yeah, like a lima bean
igmelonh@feddit.online · 2 pts · 80d
Michigan and Ontario both have Bois Blanc Islands. Michigan's is "Boys Blank" and Ontario's is "Bob Low".
Wfh@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 80d
Home of Bob Loblaw's Law Blog.
ZDL@lazysoci.al · 2 pts · 79d
Wasn't Bob Loblaw's Law Blog the place where an anti-obesity statute was first proposed referred to colloquially as the Bob Loblaw "Blob Law"?
OpenPassageways@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 80d
Hebron, Lebanon, and Bozrah CT have entered the chat.
Jamaica, VT has entered the chat
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 79d
I see your Jamaica, VT and raise you Jamaica Beach, TX.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 79d
As does Medina OH. We have a lot of middle eastern names in the country actually.
Also Memphis TN is named after the city in Egypt, and I swear I've seen some Cairos around this country.
tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 80d
Consequently people from New England are the only ones who know how half the current English place names are pronounced.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 79d
It's "Wooster"
tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 79d
Also Glosster and Lester
snooggums@piefed.world · 7 pts · 80d
insert flex tape meme slapping "New" onto the European name
pedz@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 79d
In QuƩbec they were a bit more diverse and also named lots of places after saints.
Jackcooper@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 80d
And yet we don't have a Shitterton
DioramaOfShit@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 79d
Thats the S in USA
Zephyr@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 79d
When you get to the south west it becomes a place in Mexico which is a place in Spain or straight up just named after a Spanish conquistador.
aeronmelon@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 80d
Paris, Texas is a personal favorite.
Furbag@pawb.social · 3 pts · 80d
Were staying in Paris! ...at the Hilton.
In Paris! ... Texas.
...on our way to see Paris! ... Hilton.
0x0@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 80d
Indeed.
UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 80d
Just add new to the name
thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 79d
We also have a few original names, like bucksnort, horsethief basin and truth or consequences
VinegarChunks@lemmus.org · 4 pts · 79d
Here in South Carolina we have Pumpkintown, Sugar Tit, and Possum Kingdom
bitjunkie@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 79d
There are also a lot of places that kept the original native names. Not as numerous as the "New [European place]" ones, but enough that you notice.
nexguy@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 79d
As much as Europeans don't like it, Americans are your children.
greenMeanHoppinMachine@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 79d
and the original European names are also pretty functional:
I believe Amsterdam is just "River Dam"
And York is just "Yew", presumably named after trees that grew there. (Eburacon -> Eboracum -> Eoforwic -> JĆ³rvĆk -> York)
But New York in the United States isn't even directly named after the English city of York, but rather a person (James Stuart) who was the Duke of York when England took control of the territory from the Dutch.
MathiasTCK@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 79d
I was down at the New Amsterdam
Staring at this yellow-haired girl
Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation
With a black-haired flamenco dancer
You know, she dances while his father plays guitar
Mikekm@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 80d
Well, the Capitol of Minnesota could have been called Pigs Eye after a French Canadian fur trapper if it wasn't for a Catholic priest changing it to St Paul.
ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one · 3 pts · 80d
Rest assured, there are universes out there with St. Paul, Minnesota going by Pigs Eye.
Aiz@reddthat.com · 4 pts · 80d
Meanwhile in the UK they have Bath and Bedford
Aiz@reddthat.com · 2 pts · 80d
Not to mention my whole country is named after a place there. New Zealand
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 80d
Ridiculous. How could a place named in 1645 be named after a WWII anti-aircraft platform?
Aiz@reddthat.com · 1 pts · 79d
I don't even know
rbos@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 80d
Zeeland being in the Netherlands, though. The way you replied made it sound UK.
Aiz@reddthat.com · 1 pts · 79d
my bad
peteypete420@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 79d
Hey hey, we did call it "New". Well, sometimes anyway. I definitely lived in town just called York.
minorkeys@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 79d
There were no Americans when many of those places were named...
rumba@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 80d
I always assumed it was where the people who settled it were originally from.
Dagnet@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 80d
You should check the city names in Florida, no idea what they were thinking
ZDL@lazysoci.al · 2 pts · 79d
Probably "we're not sharing these drugs, no".
Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 80d
Also of note: the name of Important Train Company Man
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 80d
That explains Philadelphia and Memphis
mlg@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 80d
Psythik@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 80d
I don't get it.
mlg@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 80d
Lots of inland American cities are named after the famous port city of China, Canton, which is formally known as Guangzhou.
I don't know why it was such a popular pick back in the day, but I'm guessing it has to do with this:
Canton and Cantonese is actually the english name derived from the Portuguese transliteration of the region when they first started ocean trading with China.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 79d
Are we sure it doesn't come from the word "canton" as in another word for "state", e.g Swiss Cantons?
mlg@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 79d
I checked and nah, most of them explicitly state China as the name origin and one of them is even close to another town called Nankin which was named after Nanjing lol.