[PW] Politically Incorrect Town Names?

[Chris Corston]

I lived in Kitchener, Ontario   for a number of years. Settled by many 
Germans in the 19th century, Kitchener was called Berlin until WWI, when 
there was so much anti-German sentiment expressed that the name was changed 
to Kitchener in 1916.
There was talk from time to time of changing the name back to Berlin, but as 
far as I know that has never come to anything much.
Chris Corston
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Hart" <hart at pglaf.org>
To: <list at project-wombat.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2007 8:22 PM
Subject: Re: [PW] Politically Incorrect Town Names?


>
> On Sat, 31 Mar 2007, Will White wrote:
>
>> On 3/31/07, John Ptak <jfptak at thesciencebookstore.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello.  I was wondering if there anyone knew of some one-stop shopping 
>>> for
>>> information like this?  This came to mind while I was looking through 
>>> "The
>>> Lure of Roads in New Mexico" (1921) which was decorated with a swastika 
>>> (not
>>> horribly uncommon) and which described a town named "Swastika".  The 
>>> town
>>> changed its name "at the outbreak of the war", and then drifted I guess, 
>>> its
>>> way to ghost-towndom.  Apart from having a run through some old 
>>> gazetteers,
>>> does anyone know if this data has been collected?  Thanks, John Ptak
>>
>>
>> These websites have lists of politically incorrect and humorous place 
>> names:
>> http://philbrodieband.com/jokes-jokes_town_names.htm
>> http://www.funnynames.com/?op=listnames&cat=2
>>
>> The book "From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow: How Maps Name, Claim, and
>> Inflame" by Mark Monmonier (University of Chicago Press, 2006) goes into
>> more detail on the subject of controversial place names.
>>
>> -- 
>> Will White
>> Atherton Branch, San Mateo County Library
>> 2 Dinkelspiel Station Lane, Atherton CA 94027
>> william.p.white at gmail.com
>
> Well, if you are going to mention the above, I must add the reactions
> from my French friends to seeing "Grand Teton" in large letters on an
> assortment of roadmaps they used when crossing America. . . .
>
> I never really realized how funny this was until I flew over them.
>
>
> mh
>
>
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