U.S. Will Rename 660 Geographic Features- including several Adirondack landmarks

[montcalm]

Tahawus, although it sounds cool, seems to be another questionable Americanization of native language.

https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/b...tory-and-women


I'm not that keen on linguistics and etymology to dig much deeper than this, so I'll take the expert's opinion.

[greatexpectations]

Originally Posted by montcalm

Tahawus, although it sounds cool, seems to be another questionable Americanization of native language.

yeah, i think peaks and people by carson gets into this a bit. as i recall the summary was:
1. tahawus was a native american word meaning cloud splitter but it was lifted by hoffman from finger lakes area people (rather than adirondack locals) and then applied to an adirondack peak.
2. hoffman tried to popularize tahawus *after* emmons had already applied the name marcy.

fwiw, cloudsplitter and tahawus are both great names.

[Bagadeez04]

I think both "sides" have good points here. Truly derogatory names should change without a doubt. I wasn't aware that this word was derogatory (my own ignorance), but if it is it should be changed. If Negro Lake references back to even more derogatory word before it should change. That seems perfectly fair.

I could also see this devolving into a situation where bored first world "activists" start finding thousands of innocuous places/features to rename more or less to make a name for themselves.

I think these issues should be considered carefully on a case by case basis and decision makers need to be able to accept legitimate changes and also say "no" to any silly name change recommendations that may come.

[billconner]

I found a Squaw Island (Black River, just before Lake Ontario). Name not on Google maps. Saw it on county tax map. There must be thousands of place names that will offend someone.

[TCD]

/politics/

Just for fun, let's change it to DeSantis Island and see what happens...

LOL

/politics/

[Bunchberry]

I not even gonna mention that they changed the name of gypsy moths to spongy moths!

[Schultzz]

Just curious as to whether the word "squaw" is offensive to Native Americans or people who are going to great lengths to become "politically correct". I would rather see more emphasis made in reservations to help the poverty and "self-defeating" behaviors of some of the residents. Of course "savages" or "heathens" are not appropriate but may have seemed so at the time, however, our government seems to go out of its way to break treaties such as in the Seneca Nations over the "Allegheny Reservoir" which was not really warranted and broke a treaty established by George Washington. It is located in the Southern Tier. Helping people who live on the "Rez" goes a long way in restoring trust with Native Americans, more than changing aged words and expressions.

[chairrock]

Originally Posted by Bunchberry

I not even gonna mention that they changed the name of gypsy moths to spongy moths!

I feel the pain...lol... I am happy someone else noticed that change...I don't care ....just with they would move on...

[DSettahr]

Originally Posted by Schultzz

Just curious as to whether the word "squaw" is offensive to Native Americans or people who are going to great lengths to become "politically correct". I would rather see more emphasis made in reservations to help the poverty and "self-defeating" behaviors of some of the residents. Of course "savages" or "heathens" are not appropriate but may have seemed so at the time, however, our government seems to go out of its way to break treaties such as in the Seneca Nations over the "Allegheny Reservoir" which was not really warranted and broke a treaty established by George Washington. It is located in the Southern Tier. Helping people who live on the "Rez" goes a long way in restoring trust with Native Americans, more than changing aged words and expressions.

As stated in the article, the entire renaming effort is being led by a Native American. Emphasis on the relative quote below is mine:

Led by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as cabinet secretary, the February 2022 release of the list marks the next step in a sweeping plan to remove the racist and misogynist slur "squaw" from the national geographic landscape.