Changing the name

 What's in a name? Well there is an awful lot that could be said about that. This morning I was thinking about place names specifically. I suppose due to the renaming of the gulf of Mexico to the gulf of America. Just how aware are you of why a place was named what it is. Growing up I heard all the place names without giving any thought as to why. I lived off a tar and chip road named Springy Banks Rd. Never gave that a thought, never went looking for any springy banks. The dirt road I lived on didn't have a name that I was aware of. Later the post office informed my dad it was named hunting road. Nobody went hunting up that road, it was a dad end. 

 It's funny how names can come and go. The old folks had different names for the same places I knew growing up. You would hear them occasionally, places like Northwest or Squaw Cove. Freetown was another place I would hear the old folks mention, that was cedar street to me, at least the general location was. Today those names have made a bit of a comeback, except for Squaw Cove which I'm told is offensive. Like I said, I never gave that much of a thought, it was just the name of a place. Looking back I suppose a great deal of what was said was offensive; not then, but now. That also changes over the years. 

 Changing the name of a place doesn't change the place, or does it? Take that place Freetown as an example. To my grandparents Freetown was a place you didn't really want to be. It was what we would call low income housing today. It was an area for blacks and Indians that had been displaced. It was also where that "white" trash lived. You didn't want anyone to know you lived in Freetown. I'm told the opposite is true today, Freetown is a very nice area in which to live. I lived in the section of town called, below the bridge. That was the area of town where the blue collar workers lived, the businessmen from the old families lived upstreet, above the bridge. Yes, it was a status thing, very much so. I expect that remains true to a degree today. Uptown! It is all in the name.

 I am amused by those proclaiming they are offended by a name. I just grew up with the old saying, "sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me." The name may incite a reaction from me that gets you hurt. The challenge always being to control that reaction. It isn't to make you change the name, just not use it around me. The name doesn't offend, your attitude does. I've been called many names over the years. Not once was I offended by a name. On a few occasions the one using that name may have been offended, or assaulted, depending upon your viewpoint. But the name of a mountain, river, lake, pancake syrup or body of water has no effect on me. I'll just go on calling it whatever. Remember when the Flintstones urged us all to have a GAY old time. Yeah, meant something different back then. The name changed.