• @yata@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      Not necessarily. The majority of current US was colonised long after it became an independent state.

      • @callouscomic@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        I’d argue the majority of English-based naming though are in the original 13 colonies and were named prior to 1776. Having lived on both coasts, it sure seems that is the case.

        A lot of the other places are likely due to later immigrants building their own communities west of those colonies, and then there are a lot of coincidences as well.

        And then there’s a ton of cities named after Bible references.

        • @nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de
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          8 months ago

          I’ve lived in the Midwest, and after moving to New England, this it very much the case. Most of the 4-5 states that make up New England are full of towns with the same names from old England used over and over.

          But in the plus side we don’t sound like idiots when we visit and know how to pronounce Gloucester and Worcester.

          French Canadians in New England did the opposite though, and seem to aggressively mispronounce their French locations (Calais, Barre, Montpelier).

    • @dreadedsemi@lemmy.world
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      88 months ago

      US did it with a whole country named after a continent. What’s your country? those states who decided to unite. Which ones? The ones of America. Ah those ones.

      • @over_clox@lemmy.world
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        148 months ago

        It’s not ‘United States of North America’, it’s just United States of America. America is actually two continents.

        Not like that makes it any better LOL, just saying…

          • kase
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            18 months ago

            Could I refer to the US, Mexico and Brazil collectively as the not-united-united-states? (As in, they’re each united states, but they’re all not united)

            • kase
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              8 months ago

              On second thought, I hereby petition all three countries to unite together to form the United United States of the Americas

              Edit: and just for funsies, because that name is too long, they insist on calling themselves the United Nations. Their citizens call themselves Americans. 🙃

        • @Gabu@lemmy.world
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          08 months ago

          You’re aware that there are multiple geographic models, right? In some, “America” is a single continent spaning from Alaska to Patagonia. Also, in many “Australia” isn’t a continent - that would be Oceania.

      • @makyo@lemmy.world
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        18 months ago

        Europeans love to point that stuff out. They always say it with this sort of relish like ‘you call yourselves Americans, but isn’t that the continent name?’

        What the alternative, Statesians? US American? Who do they think named it anyway? It’s not like we just made the call - it was their anscestors as much as mine who did it!

        • @dreadedsemi@lemmy.world
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          18 months ago

          I understand there are people who say that while being serious, but just in case I was joking in the same sense as the New Zealand one. I’m sure if we look up real meaning of some old countries names they turn out to be weird or too simple.

          • @makyo@lemmy.world
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            18 months ago

            Oh yeah sorry if my annoyance seemed directed at your post, that wasn’t my intention. I had to rant because those who are serious and all smarmy about it really grind my gears.

    • SokathHisEyesOpen
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      78 months ago

      It’s originally a city in North Yorkshire, so the English aren’t all that original with their city names either.

      • essell
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        18 months ago

        Are you suggesting the city was named after the area?

    • janus2
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      38 months ago

      York is a mistake in Pennsylvania

      (jk. I love my hometown. Sorta.)

      • @JTStrikesBack@lemm.ee
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        28 months ago

        Hey now. York isn’t THAT bad, even though a Google search for “York PA” has a video called “York Pennsylvania Sucks” as one of the top results…

    • @CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I used to have a motorcycle that was manufactured there.

      EDIT: I checked out of curiosity and I still have a motorcycle that was manufactured there.

      • janus2
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        38 months ago

        how does one become uncertain if they still own an entire motorcycle

        • @CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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          28 months ago

          You see, I had a 750 Street Rod that was made in York, PA. I traded it in a month ago on a Nightster that was also made there.

      • Auk
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        88 months ago

        There’s a Bagdad in Tasmania too, went past it when I was down there a while back (as well as Jericho and the Nile River).

      • @callouscomic@lemm.ee
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        48 months ago

        Supposedly that city is named after a dad who ran a mining operation loading stuff out in bags. Ridiculous.

        There’s also a Bagdad in Florida.

        • AngrilyEatingMuffins
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          28 months ago

          I’ve heard that but I highly doubt it. seems like a post 9/11 freedom fries kinda deal. When I was a kid I remember hearing that they named it that way because the founder had been to Baghdad and thought it the most beautiful desert city in the world, so he wanted to invoke that spirit. Doubt the spelling was nearly as standardized back then.

  • The Pantser
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    8 months ago

    Joke can be equally made with Native American names, especially Michigan which is named from Algonquin word “Mishigamaw,” meaning “big lake” or “great water,” deriving its name from the lake of the same name.

    • @Gork@lemm.ee
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      118 months ago

      Native American words for landmarks are so cool, much better than the colonial equivalents.

      Mt. McKinley - Denali

      Mt. Adams - Klikitat

      Mt. Jefferson - Seekseekqua

      Mt. Rainier - Tacoma

      Mt. Shasta - Ako-yet

      • @PinkyCoyoteOPM
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        38 months ago

        This too should be a proper post on this community!

      • @callouscomic@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        What’s always seemed so strange to me is how common the amount of vehicles that steal indigenous names from various places.

        Cherokee (car and a plane)

        Comanche

        Tacoma

        Cheyenne

        Dakota

        Taos

        Pontiac (entire company)

        Winnebago

        Touareg

        Indian (motorcycles)

        Aztek

        Chieftain

        Star Chief

        Super Chief

        Thunderbird

        Chief

        Scout

        Dark Horse

        Qashqai

        Oroch

        Black Hawk

        Chinook

        Apache

        These are all brand names, names of cars, motorhomes, motorcycles, military vehicles, etc. Apparently decades ago, the manufacturers didn’t even shy from how these were named, and there were a lot of questionable ads.

        Probably tons more throughout the world.

    • @Klystron@sh.itjust.works
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      58 months ago

      A lot of the Seattle area has retained its original indigenous names… Seattle itself was the name of the local chief, Tukwila, Sammamish, Issaquah, Tacoma, Puyallup, Snoqualmie.

    • @PinkyCoyoteOPM
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      28 months ago

      Thia should be a post on thia sub on its own instead of a throwaway comment on a meme. This is the kinda stuff I would love to see here!

  • @grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org
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    98 months ago

    I live in New England, USA. I was talking with a Brit about the British show The Archers. The Brit asked me whether I could tell which places were made up for the show and which were real. I told him that if I new a place in New England named something, it was probably a real place in the UK.

  • @CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    York isn’t just a city in England, it’s also a city in Pennsylvania.

    Also, the existence of New Caledonia and New Britain tells me it’s not just Americans doing this.

    • @abaci@discuss.tchncs.de
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      38 months ago

      Can’t believe those Americans, capturing New Netherland from the Dutch and renaming it in honor of the Duke of York. Just like an American to do that

    • Echo Dot
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      8 months ago

      I believe there’s also a New London, pop 15 plus someone’s dog, which shows a distinct lack of imagination.

  • @Airazz@lemmy.world
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    38 months ago

    There are like twelve Londons in the US. Looks like we exported only the best and the most creative.

  • southsamurai
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    8 months ago

    I mean, they weren’t always Americans at the time, but it’s still funny :)

    Besides, it was the new world (in that it was new to Europeans)

  • @PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee
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    38 months ago

    We even do it to ourselves

    Indigenous PNWers call white folks bostoners because of how many of them originally came from Mass and named their new settlements after towns in Mass

    • @PinkyCoyoteOPM
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      38 months ago

      Sir New Jack is a wrestler not a city. (Unless youre talking about the movie)