Do you ever wish your city kept its original name?

[harryc]

Originally Posted by isaidso

I like the name 'Ottawa' but I've always been curious about that town just outside Ottawa called 'Mississippi Mills'. The word seems indigenous to that area yet there's the identical word in the US, the state of Mississippi. Are the Algonquin and the tribe in the US state of Mississippi related linguistically?

The Navajo, apparently, trace their roots to the Dene people in northern Canada so it is plausible.

Many blacks "migrated" for the southern states, and didn't stop migrating until they hit a place w/o fugitive slave laws - that could be the origin.

nope - my lazy a--- finally used google - from the great Wiki in the clouds

The Town of Mississippi Mills was incorporated on January 1, 1998, by amalgamating the town of Almonte with the townships of Ramsay and Pakenham.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by ChiSoxRox

We get the word "Mississippi" from the Ojibwe around the Great Lakes. The river was named by the French voyageurs looking for the passage between Quebec and Nouvelle-Orleans. Then when states were being carved out, the name was picked for a far southern reach of the river. It's a name that has traveled the length of the river.

Correct. And traditional Ojibwe territory (same family as the Algonquins) extends from southern Quebec through Ontario and into northern Minnesota where the Mississippi River begins its southward journey.

Hence names ending in -ssippi in the Ottawa (Ontario) area like Mississippi Mills, the (much smaller and totally unconnected) Mississippi River and Kitchissippi.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Isn't the Turning Stone Casino near Utica NY owned and operated by an Indigenous group?

Yes, the Oneidas.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by isaidso

The one I found amusing was the the police and fire departments in the City of North York. Wouldn't they be the NYFD and NYPD?

New York City's fire department is abbreviated as FDNY, but the NYPD would be amusing.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by ChiSoxRox

We get the word "Mississippi" from the Ojibwe around the Great Lakes. The river was named by the French voyageurs looking for the passage between Quebec and Nouvelle-Orleans. Then when states were being carved out, the name was picked for a far southern reach of the river. It's a name that has traveled the length of the river.

Ahhhh! That makes a whole lot of sense. Thank you.

[Steely Dan]

i have always been curious about the similarities of the names "Mississippi" and "Mississauga".

I'm guessing they're both Ojibwe-rooted words? something to do with water/rivers/lakes?

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

New York City's fire department is abbreviated as FDNY, but the NYPD would be amusing.

And then you'll see people walking around North York wearing this t-shirt below. You love North York? Really?


https://www.grandslamnewyork.com/who...ve-ny-t-shirt/


And then there's this popular Canadian fast food chain. It stands for 'New York Fries' but the chain is based in North York. I just call it North York Fries.


https://twitter.com/newyorkfries/sta...75101999030273

[Manitopiaaa]

Washington reminds me of 'washing machine', but there's is no alternative. 'Columbia' sounds better, but SC got there first.

Woodbridge sounds like a non-descript suburban development. I hate it. No wonder this place has no identity.

Prince William is great and sounds very unique. I like it. Also sounds fancy schmanzy (which is funny considering how PW is the poorest of the Nova suburban counties, but also the most diverse)

Manassas I really like. It's a very unique native name in a region named after boring WASP last names (Dulles, Herndon, Reston, Leesburg), though there's always the herp derp about how it sounds like "men asses."

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

i have always been curious about the similarities of the names "Mississippi" and "Mississauga".

I'm guessing they're both Ojibwe-rooted words? something to do with water/rivers/lakes?

Seems like nearly every native word in the northern US at least has something to do with water... place by the water, big water, small water, good water, bad water, the water that stinks, big river, water than flows both ways, river near where we shit sometimes at night, great water, people near the water, where we cross the water, where we drink the water, village by the water, the water that smokes, dangerous water...

[sopas ej]

Some people think that "Michigan" and "Michoacán" are cognates, but linguists disagree. One is Ojibwe, the other is Nahuatl---which I think are unrelated languages?

One means lake and the other means place of the fishermen, or something like that. But both have to do with water, obviously.

[Streamliner]

San Diego:

In 1542, when the land upon which San Diego now sits was first sighted by the Spanish, they called it San Miguel. I could take it or leave it.

However, the native Kumeyaay people called the same land Kosa'aay, which was hispanicized to Cosoy. I wouldn't mind either of those.

[CaliNative]

L.A. was something like "El Pueblo Nuestra Senora de La Reina de Los Angeles de porciuncula" (or something like that) when it was founded in 1781, which means "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of The Angels (St. Mary)" and whatever porciuncula is (pigs? I hope not). The original native American name for the Tongva tribal village near the river was "Yang-na" which actually isn't bad. Yangna sounds vaguely Asian. I kind of like it. Maybe somebody will start a movement to rename L.A. "Yangna". All the Columbus and Father Serra statues are being removed. Might as well go all the way.

What does "porciuncula" mean?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Manitopiaaa

Washington reminds me of 'washing machine', but there's is no alternative. 'Columbia' sounds better, but SC got there first.

The interesting thing about "Washington, DC" is that, when speaking, most people tend to just verbally shorthand it as "DC" the vast majority of the time, which is unique and distinctive enough.

"LA" (Los Angeles) is really the only other major US city that I can think of where most people verbally shorthand it by its initials when speaking most of the time.

Sure, New York City has "NYC", and Kansas City has "KC", and many others, but those aren't verbally shorthanded to their initials when speaking nearly as often and ubiquitously as "DC" and "LA" are from my experience.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

The interesting thing about "Washington, DC" is that, when speaking, most people tend to just verbally shorthand it as "DC" the vast majority of the time, which is unique and distinctive enough.

"LA" (Los Angeles) is really the only other major US city that I can think of where most people verbally shorthand it by its initials when speaking most of the time.

Sure, New York City has "NYC", and Kansas City has "KC", and many others, but those aren't verbally shorthanded to their initials when speaking nearly as often and ubiquitously as "DC" and "LA" are from my experience.

I've heard that "ABQ" is sometimes used in Albuquerque for their city. Sometimes you hear DFW used by people for Dallas-Ft. Worth, but mostly it just is used for the airport. Dallas is also called the "Big D", but you don't hear that much anymore.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

I've heard that "ABQ" is sometimes used in Albuquerque for their city. Sometimes you hear DFW used by people for Dallas-Ft. Worth, but mostly it just is used for the airport. Dallas is also called the "Big D", but you don't hear that much anymore.

Yeah, people WITHIN cities have all kinds of nicknames and verbal shorthands like abbreviations that they'll use instead of the proper name for their city.

The point I was making is that "DC" and "LA" are by far the two most common verbally spoken US city abbreviations by those who live outside of said cities.

I rarely hear anyone here in Chicago say out loud, "I'm headed to Washington next week for a conference".

But "I'm heading to DC next week for a conference" is extremely common.

In my experience DC and LA are the only two major US cities where their abbreviations are the definitive default used by outsiders when speaking about them.

Other examples like "ABQ", "NYC", "KC", "ATL", "SLC", "MSP", etc. are certainly used by some people when speaking about those cities, but they are nowhere close to being used as ubuiquitously as the two biggies.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Kansas, Missouri. (the original name was the town of Kansas and then the city of Kansas)

Hella no. It's bad enough many people think Kansas City is in Kansas, just calling it "Kansas" would make it worse.

Personally I think they should dump the whole "Kansas-whatever" thing and call it "Truman, Missouri."

[Steely Dan]

^ yeah, "Kansas City, Missouri" is one of the most unfortunately, and confusingly, named major cities in the nation.

Just about any other reasonable city name would have been preferable to it.

Oh well......

[Steely Dan]

Looking at smaller areas, I've always appreciated the quad cities for having two of the best city names and also two of the worst.

You start out with "Rock Island", which is just an all around awesome and solid city name. Just say it a out loud a few times: "Rock Island", "Rock Island", "Rock Island".

What a fun name to say!

And then you get to "Davenport", which is a very pretty and elegant city name. It flows very nicely, anyone could take pride in a name like that.


But then on the other side of the coin you go from the bad "Moline", to the even worse "Bettendorf". Terrible.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Looking at smaller areas, I've always appreciated the quad cities for having two of the best city names and also two of the worst.

You start out with "Rock Island", which is just an all around awesome and solid city name. Just say it a out loud a few times: "Rock Island", "Rock Island", "Rock Island".

What a fun name to say!

And then you get to "Davenport", which is a very pretty and elegant city name. It flows very nicely, anyone could take pride in a name like that.


But then on the other side of the coin you go from the bad "Moline", to the even worse "Bettendorf". Terrible.

The Rock Island Line is a mighty fine road
The Rock Island Line is the road to ride
The Rock Island Line is a mighty fine road
If you want to ride you gotta ride it like you find it
Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Line

We sang this in music class when I was in elementary school.

(Note that I did not grow up in Quebec, and went to English school in those years.)

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Yeah, people WITHIN cities have all kinds of nicknames and verbal shorthands like abbreviations that they'll use instead of the proper name for their city.

The point I was making is that "DC" and "LA" are by far the two most common verbally spoken US city abbreviations by those who live outside of said cities.

I rarely hear anyone here in Chicago say out loud, "I'm headed to Washington next week for a conference".

But "I'm heading to DC next week for a conference" is extremely common.

In my experience DC and LA are the only two major US cities where their abbreviations are the definitive default used by outsiders when speaking about them.

Other examples like "ABQ", "NYC", "KC", "ATL", "SLC", "MSP", etc. are certainly used by some people when speaking about those cities, but they are nowhere close to being used as ubuiquitously as the two biggies.

I doubt this is the case outside of California, but I know a lot of people from SoCal that refer to San Francisco as "SF" and San Jose as "SJ".