Monday 1 March 2010

Erasing History...

For more than a century, Negrohead Mountain has towered over the countryside north of Malibu, offering unrivalled views of the Pacific to generations of hikers. But this week, at the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen, the striking landmark's time-honoured name disappeared from local maps.
Oh, well, that'll change everything! Not...
The 2,031ft summit will henceforth be known as Ballard Mountain, a name deemed to be more in keeping with the modern era. The new title honours a blacksmith and former slave called John Ballard, who was among the first men to settle in its foothills in 1880, after fleeing Los Angeles to escape persecution by segregationist police officers.
That's how it works, is it? We change the name of a thing to placate or suck up to some pressure group, and gradually, we change mankind?

Because maybe I'm a little too cynical, but I think I see a whole heap of flaws in that kind of 'thinking'. And I'm not the only one:
After years of blithely ignoring the often unfortunate derivation of many of the nation's place names, America is slowly rebranding its landmarks. And historians fear that the push to replace colourful words or phrases with "acceptable" alternatives is seeing the nation's heritage sacrificed at the altar of political correctness.
Indeed. And for those progressives tempted to wander down the road of this sort of thing over here (and there are some, oh, yes indeed...), just remember the law of unintended consequences:
In San Francisco, the county board of supervisors debated a bizarre-sounding proposal to change the name of the Mount Diablo State Park to Mount Reagan State Park. The move was eventually rejected, but not before a group of right-wing Christian activists had advanced a case to the effect that the park's historic name, which is Spanish for "devil", is profane and highly offensive to religious people.
Heh! You see, when you open that door, there's no shutting it again when your oppoenents think 'Oooh! I'll have some of that..!'

But are there that many names left?
Areas mapped during the gold rush were often given names that reflected the no-nonsense argot of prospectors. Generations of students have giggled at a river in California that enjoys the name Shitbritches Creek. That somewhat lavatorial name has survived, so far. As have a place called Hell in Michigan, an Intercourse in Pennsylvania, and a town called Crappo, in Maryland.
I've a potholder from Intercourse, picked up as a tourist item in a gift shop. I expect a lot of people have similar items from all the other places too.

So, expect a further blow for small shopkeepers trying to stay afloat in the recession. Well done, progressives...

11 comments:

PJH said...

It would appear that this isn't the first botched attempt at renaming it. From the BBC

The name originally contained an even more offensive racial slur which appeared on federal maps, but was changed to "negro" in the 1960s.

Now I wonder what it was called last time?

Foxy Brown said...

Oh how I love these do-gooders.

The rebuilt pub used to have a sculpted figure of a black servant in the niche above the entrance, but this was smashed in 1990 and was replaced by the painting of a chimney-sweep’s boy shown below, which is (arguably) more politically correct. Even so, in 1997 there was an unsuccessful attempt by Oxford students to get the pub’s name changed on the grounds that it was offensive.

Headington History

woman on a raft said...

You'd think the Native Americans might have something to say about people coming over here, naming our mountains after people who also aren't from round these here parts etc.

In other news, Rigsby on GF says:

Yasmin Alibi Brown, one of the most annoying hoons on tv just got owned by Terry Christian, on Kyle alternative the Wrght Stuff.

Discussing GCSEs dumbing down Brown defended her daughters hard work and success T.Christian chirped up ‘but she does not go to a state school does she?’

Brown very shamefaced, any prospective QT guests reading write that one down.


Anybody fancy writing to Yazzer and asking where she sends her daughter to school?

yasmin@alibhai-brown.com

Brian, follower of Deornoth said...

We've just seen Cowshit Lane and Ticklecock Arch survive renaming attempts, so all is not lost.

Of course, as someone put it in a similar context, they only need to get lucky once, and we have to be lucky all the time.

dickiebo said...

I have 'picked up' on your post, J-M, and cross-referenced. Hope you don't mind.

NickM said...

It's been going on for years.

The Bank of England stands on Threadneedle Street which was bowdelerised from the orignal Gropecunt Lane for it was indeed a haven of prostitutes.

So no real change there then!

There is a deeper point. It's not just geography but history and linguistics. At various times there have been moves to make English spelled phonetically. So you spell "psychology" without the "p" and "philosophy" with an "f".

Bad. You then lose the connection with the original Greek. And the history of words is history.

Pogo said...

As Nick M says, we're not imune to bowdlerising place names in the UK. I believe that Tolpuddle had its name changed [1], whereas Wyre Piddle and Piddletrenthide managed to keep their older names [2]. Site Hill, in the same area also had a rather more scatalogical original name.

[1] IIRC it was because there was a railway station there and Queen Victoria didn't like the name.

[2] Not on the railway.. :-)

banned said...

There is a pub in Ashbourne, Derbyshire called "Green Man & Blacks Head", Blackboy Road survives in Exeter which earlier redesignated Shyte Street (that was formerly an open sewer) as Chute Street.
Wankie National Park (Zimbabwe)
Cunter (Switzerland)
Great Cockup & Little Cockup (2 hills in The Lake District, UK )
and many many more @
http://www.militaryimages.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4546



banned on Tickle Cock Triumph

JuliaM said...

"t would appear that this isn't the first botched attempt at renaming it."

Heh!

"...and was replaced by the painting of a chimney-sweep’s boy shown below, which is (arguably) more politically correct."

Because child labour is sooo much more pleasant to contemplate!

"You'd think the Native Americans might have something to say about people coming over here, naming our mountains after people who also aren't from round these here parts etc."

Oh, they've been too busy whinging about naming football teams 'Redskins', I suspect...

"Brown very shamefaced..."

Ha! Pwned!

JuliaM said...

"Of course, as someone put it in a similar context, they only need to get lucky once, and we have to be lucky all the time."

Oh, correct. They'll be back, after they;'ve licked their wounds.

"I have 'picked up' on your post, J-M, and cross-referenced. Hope you don't mind."

Not at all! The more the merrier.

"There is a deeper point. It's not just geography but history and linguistics."

When you want a pliant, complacent populace, it helps if they forget who they are and where they come from...

"IIRC it was because there was a railway station there and Queen Victoria didn't like the name."

Isn't she (apocryphally, anyway) responsible for lebians being 'legal' too?

"...and many many more @
http://www.militaryimages.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4546"


Oh, nice collection! :)

PJH said...

Julia:
Isn't she (apocryphally, anyway) responsible for lebians being 'legal' too?

Urban legend it would appear: This, via this:

The Labouchere Amendment [to the criminal law amendment act], criminalising all same-sex activity, was introduced in 1885. Althought widely believed, Queen Victoria's refusal to believe lesbianism existed resulting in lesbianism's omission from the Act is probably false. It is believed those presenting the amendment removed it (as the House of Lords did nearly 40 years later) fearing criminalizing lesbianism would alert women to its possibility.