At 03:14 AM 9/15/2005, Bruce Johnson wrote:
My geology professor mentioned on a field trip that there are several geological features out west with names like "Molly's Nipple." Which raises the question: What will happen when they figure out what "Grand Teton" means?
Which brings up a thought I've been wanting to comment on since this thread began. I can't from my present position prove any of this, but it is embedded in my memory as absolute fact.
Back in about 1954 we took a family trip from Sinton to Sierra Blanca. Somewhere along the way was a road sign (provided by the highway department, as they do today for such places as "Mule Ear Peaks") which said "Squaw Tit Peak." I'll swear we have a picture of the sign in one of our family photo albums, ostensibly taken by my mamma. It was somewhere in West Texas. There is a likely candidate near--I think--Bakersfield, but I recall the one we saw in the '50s as being farther from the road. At any rate, it was so obvious that it didn't really need a sign. Everybody who saw it immediately had the same idea and got the point no matter how conservative they wanted to pretend they were.
When I got into college and was majoring in geography I had occasion to look at some OLD topo sheets (like from the '20s or '30s) and there on one was the name "Squaw Tit Peak"--bigger'n Dixie. (I think I also found the same name on some of the THD published county maps.) Some years later, checking a newer topo sheet of the same area I found it had been changed to "Squaw Teat Peak". Somebody was beginning to develop a bit of over-sensitivity, but hadn't yet morphed into the full fledged embarrassment of political correctness ("squaw" hadn't then become an issue). Some years later still I looked for the name in a Texas road atlas which had as base-maps the USGS Topos and I couldn't find any reference to the name at all.
As a geographer and cartographer (and locomotive engineer) I find the expunging of (potentially) offensive historic names from maps (actually) offensive. It's fine if they want to change or add a name because a physical change has taken place: Smith bought the "Old Jones place" and subdivided it into "Mountain View Estates". But to arbitrarily change names on account of a supposition of someone's over-sensitivity is a bit unprofessional. A true professional geographer probably wouldn't do it--the confusion and difficulties it creates with research (of all kinds) far outweighs the personal satisfaction some pat-himself-on-the-back do-gooder gets from screwing up a perfectly good historic place name. There's not one person in 10,000 whose going to look at Squaw Tit Peak and not think, "Ah, look at that--Squaw Tit Peak" or something similar. So, why not just leave things as they were? It adds richness to our history and our culture--and a bit of amusement. Discussions about correctness or incorrectness of such a name should be both private and educational--they serve as a catalyst to conversation and social change, whereas expunging such names (inappropriately) satisfies a few, confuses a great many, and does no one at all any beneficial service. Again, anybody who looks at the place name "Negro Mountain" (which is a real place in the Appalachians) is going to immediately (like immediately) think, "Ah, look, they've changed the name of this place in order to be politically correct." Nobody is being fooled by these name changes--only hampered, in more ways than one. (It turns out, by the way, that Negro Mountain was always Negro Mountain. Nobody ever had to change it's name for political correctness or any other reason. It's the trend to do so that causes the confusion.)
This trend of political correctness extends far beyond racial interests as has already been alluded to by others. All-in-all, political correctness is exactly the opposite--it is incorrect! It is an immature (hiding your head in the sand) approach to what should actually be a matter of public attention. You'll get more educational mileage out of it by keeping it in the open--and you might just get some beneficial tolerance mileage out of it as well. Political correctness is not correct; it is a sham. Political correctness--the idea and the activity, in and of itself--is a despicable pursuit, which should be below the dignity of intelligent people. Anybody who can't see through it is not paying attention. It is trendy and simple-minded and therefore attracts a lot of people with no desire to think about what they are thinking about--or not thinking about. There are better and much more mature ways of dealing with social concerns than sweeping them under the rug, which is bound to create more problems further down the line. And changing or removing historical place names from maps is doing only a very small percentage of the world (most people who care will never in their lives look at a topo sheet) a supposed favor while placing an extreme burden on those who actually need to use those maps productively.
We're taking suggestions for a new name for the Grand Tetons. Better yet, we're looking for verbal descriptions of the images the name brings up. Thank you for sharing.
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