Dick,

When yah war over here, yah called the sound, Salish Sea... Well as of yesterday, the board of Washington State Geographic names voted 5-1 to ADD that name to Puget Sound - St. of Juan de Fuca - St of Georgia and a ton of other waterways as a name for the area... That include Canada waters too... Lots of First Nations on both sides of the boarder agree on it and so the Canadians are also thinking about adding or changing the name also...

Jest a interesting FYI....

I like it. More romantic, certainly. And what's a Puget?

Dick

Dick, you are going to luv this... The name change game is on... Now, Vancouver, WASH. is thinking about changing its name to "FORT" Vancouver so it will not be confused with Vancouver B.C.

I remember decades ago when my wife and I moved to Washington State from NYC. We had friends in NYC that thought we were in Washington D.C. Most Americans can't find their home state on a blank map.

quote:

Originally posted by Tin-Type:
Dick, you are going to luv this... The name change game is on... Now, Vancouver, WASH. is thinking about changing its name to "FORT" Vancouver so it will not be confused with Vancouver B.C.

Tin-Type,
Well, it HAS been an issue--you always have to specify "Vancouver, WA" or "the other Vancouver". Same with Washington, of course.

What I like are the phone calls from folks in the East, asking about "Spokayne", "YaKIma", and now, "HeLEEna".

Dick

Boy do I hear THAT! I went to high school in Virginia, south of Richmond. My sister would say she was from Washington (meaning the State), "Oh, we drive through there every year on our way to Maryland." Nope, other Washington. I had close friends in Petersburg (where I was living--Ft. Lee, actually), say "Spokayne." Good thing I never tried to introduce them to Puyallup! Let alone the names of Quinault, Queets, Humptulips, Mukilteo, Dosewallips, Wynoochie or Skookumchuck.

Sparks

Local pronounciations have always been "interesting". I get a kick out of people mispronouncing "Pierre" So. Dak, (correctly-Peer) "Minot", No. Dak. (correctly- Mine-not)

When I was in Hah Skrool, a buddy's dad worked for the Post Office as a mail sorter and guard in a mail car on the Seattle to Montana route. He told a story about a very fancily dressed young woman in the early 50's who got off the train in the middle of No Where, MT and began asking folks where she might hire a car and driver to take her to "Twadoh". No one had a clue where she meant. As darkness approached my friend's dad and several others tried to help, including sending some kids to ask around to see if they could find a place for her to stay overnight. The stationmaster finally had a bright idea and asked her to write the name down. She took a pencil and wrote, "Twodot" which everyone recognised immediately as "Two Dot". Google it, it's on the map of MT, out in the middle of nowhere. The story I was told is that sometime after the Civil War, a US Army cartographer twitched his pen and splashed two dots of ink where some four horse town was and instead of starting over simply named the place "Two Dot". Anyway the young lady, visiting from Back East, finally got a ride and found whoever it was she was looking for.

One of the things that rubs us web feets the wrong way is referring to Puget Sound as "The" Puget Sound or saying they live in "The Puget Sound". I've told some of 'em that it would be godawful wet. I live in the Puget Sound AREA, near Puget Sound.

Three Hawks

quote:

Originally posted by Dick:
I like it. More romantic, certainly. And what's a Puget?

Dick

Lt., later Rear Admiral Sir Peter Puget, an officer on Vancouver's sloop, "Discovery".

Short History of Adm. Puget

Three Hawks

Thanks Three Hawks,

You answered the Puget name thing... I get your point, so I will add the word Area.

The thing I notice is how the NDN's who lived here before the white man had no names for the mountains or anything else for that matter. Now the some of the historical White Man names are being corrected, I find that to be belated justice... So I now live in Seattle Washington, near the Salish Sea... It is only right. NDN's or First Nations on both sides of the US -- Canada border welcome and recomend the Salish Sea name for all of the salt water between Vancouver is. and Wa. st. and Vancouver Is. and the rest of B.C. be called Salish Sea. Works for me.

quote:

Originally posted by Tin-Type:
Thanks Three Hawks,

You answered the Puget name thing... I get your point, so I will add the word Area.

The thing I notice is how the NDN's who lived here before the white man had no names for the mountains or anything else for that matter.

I knew that about Puget, but folks not interested in history would not.
Tin-Type, I think Mt. Rainier is called Tacoma or Tahoma in the local dialects.

Dick

What's in a name? A rose by any other name …

The federal government created Oregon Territory on August 14, 1848. The area of the new jurisdiction included the present-day states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and western Montana.

On August 29, 1851, 27 male settlers met at Cowlitz Landing (south of present-day Olympia) to petition Congress for a separate “Columbia Territory” covering the area between the Columbia River and 49th parallel. The petition was reaffirmed by 44 delegates who met in Monticello on November 25, 1852. Congress approved the new territory on February 10, 1853, however a "Territory of Columbia" already existed (it was later renamed the District of Columbia, or DC for short). To avoid confusion with the national capitol, Congress changed the name of the new west coast territory in honor of our first president, to “Washington.” No confusion there! Ah, the best laid schemes of mice and men.