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What's in a place name?
Oct. 20th, 2020 01:08 pmAsbestos, Quebec is no more:
https://www.cp24.com/news/quebec-town-of-asbestos-votes-to-change-name-to-val-des-sources-1.5151801?cache=%3FclipId%3D68597
People don't have much good to say about asbestos (the mineral) these days. But changing a name gives rise to a number of challenges too. In Ontario, the town of Russell recently opted to retain its name but choose a different person as its namesake. But how would you put a positive spin on asbestos? The only answer I can think of relates to a silly joke I read somewhere long ago, about a grade school teacher asking a kid to use "asbestos" in a sentence. Anyone for road signs that read "Welcome to the town where we muddle through Asbestos we can!"?
The option chosen for the new name, "Val-des-Sources", strikes me as a little bland. But hey, the people have spoken!
Mind you, there's nothing new about changing the name of a city or town. Berlin (Ontario) changed to Kitchener. Or St. Petersburg changed to Leningrad and then back to St. Petersburg again. Then there's the matter of what we call these places in different languages and contexts. Like calling London (in the U.K.) "Londres" in French while London in Ontario remains "London". When we go to Germany, do we visit Cologne or Koeln? Were those Italian Olympics held in Turin or Torino?
If we change the name of a place in order to evoke a more positive image, is that a good thing? Or is it merely denying reality and trying to obscure, censor or whitewash historical fact?
I don't have a definitive answer to that. But I do have questions about place names of the future, given what's happening in the present.
What about Sarsfield, for example? There are probably a number of places by that name in the world, although the largest looks to be in Australia. Or what about Sarstedt, in the lower Saxony area of Germany? Are they doomed to be forever associated in our minds with SARS? What about Corona Heights, in New York and San Francisco and probably other places too? Will they go the way of the Smith Corona typewriter?
https://www.cp24.com/news/quebec-town-of-asbestos-votes-to-change-name-to-val-des-sources-1.5151801?cache=%3FclipId%3D68597
People don't have much good to say about asbestos (the mineral) these days. But changing a name gives rise to a number of challenges too. In Ontario, the town of Russell recently opted to retain its name but choose a different person as its namesake. But how would you put a positive spin on asbestos? The only answer I can think of relates to a silly joke I read somewhere long ago, about a grade school teacher asking a kid to use "asbestos" in a sentence. Anyone for road signs that read "Welcome to the town where we muddle through Asbestos we can!"?
The option chosen for the new name, "Val-des-Sources", strikes me as a little bland. But hey, the people have spoken!
Mind you, there's nothing new about changing the name of a city or town. Berlin (Ontario) changed to Kitchener. Or St. Petersburg changed to Leningrad and then back to St. Petersburg again. Then there's the matter of what we call these places in different languages and contexts. Like calling London (in the U.K.) "Londres" in French while London in Ontario remains "London". When we go to Germany, do we visit Cologne or Koeln? Were those Italian Olympics held in Turin or Torino?
If we change the name of a place in order to evoke a more positive image, is that a good thing? Or is it merely denying reality and trying to obscure, censor or whitewash historical fact?
I don't have a definitive answer to that. But I do have questions about place names of the future, given what's happening in the present.
What about Sarsfield, for example? There are probably a number of places by that name in the world, although the largest looks to be in Australia. Or what about Sarstedt, in the lower Saxony area of Germany? Are they doomed to be forever associated in our minds with SARS? What about Corona Heights, in New York and San Francisco and probably other places too? Will they go the way of the Smith Corona typewriter?
