2y ago

Inspiration

114 comments

The Europeans that went to America were the ones doing that though
- Yeah they were still Europeans when they named them. This should be the Obama award meme
  
  They were. The American identity came later. Until the war of independence, settlers identified with the European countries of their heritage
  
  They still are. Note how the USA helps Ukraine, primarily white country, but not so much countries that are primarily brown people.
- A lot of the time they didn't even bother appending "New." We have way too many Berlins, Manchesters, Lebanons, etc.
  Our native-inspired place names are the superior place names, anyway.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_place_names_of_Native_American_origin_in_the_United_States
  
  lebanonusa.com
Meanwhile, the Americans that didn't even put "new" in front of the city name and just called it Paris, Texas or some shit.
- That's a completely original name! Do you think Texans know anything about France?
  
  Isn't it named after a girl in a sex tape?
- Greetings from Naples Florida
- I can visit almost every continent without even leaving my state!
- London, Ontario is one of the worst ones, and it's not even in the US.
- It must be horrible living there. You search for weather or news and get the more popular counterpart.
There are 15 cities in the world named Paris.
14 of them are in America.
- The other is in Canada
  
  There is one in Russia. So i conclude the number above is bullshit
  
  I believe there's one in France too.
- So it is to avoid confusion when they write "PARIS, FRANCE" in films when they show the Eiffel tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Notre-Dame and the Louvre in establishing shots. Good to know 👍
  
  Yeah, who knows what monument they have replicated again in Texas.
- I'm certain there's one in Australia. There's an Australian movie called "the cars that ate Paris" set in a remote Aussie town
I mean, it's a bunch of immigrants naming things after their home. Or it's a bunch colonists claiming things... For their home.
I think there is above 50 cities named "Villeneuve" in France (literraly meaning "New City)
- Or Villefranche which means it was exempted from taxes.
  Or how there are so many "St Something" that they had to add "de somewhere" to disambiguate lmao.
  I've lived in 3 different places all named St Etienne.
And then there's the Amish, who gave their towns names like Intercourse and Bird in Hand.
- Let us not forget Blue Ball, Virginville, Balls Mills, and Climax.
  
  I think they're trying to send a message.
- That's a pub name in the UK.
  Bird In Hand, that is. Intercourse is what happens in the pub toilets.
  
  Just googled quickly out of interest. There's 14 pubs called Bird in Hand within 30 miles from my location, plus 2 restaurants and one bus stop with the same name.
People have always had a lack of creativity.
When the Greeks were settling around the Mediterranean they founded many 'New Cities', (Neapolis). One remained a 'new city' for long enough for the name to evolve to Naples.
The Phoenicians did the same, in their language 'New City' was Qart Hadasht, we now call it Carthage. One of the Carthages in what is now Spain was conquered by Rome and to differentiate it from the Capital of the Carthaginians they called it Carthago Nova, essentially New New City.
- New new city - final - fixed - rev 3 - last.xlsx
- There's something beautiful about ancient cities being named "new city"
- Also the city of Nabeul in Tunisia and Nablus in Palestine also share the same etymology as Naples.
Laughs in Newcastle, Newmarket, Newport, Newbury, Newton and Newspaper
- My hamster lives in Newspaper!
  
  I guess every crap he takes is newsworthy!
It's weird they went with new instead of better. Maybe they weren't very optimistic.
- Better York
  Less Crappy Orleans
  Marginally Improved Haven
  
  Or more accurately Great Britain should just be OK Britain.
- Sometimes in colonial America, people named things in honor a Duke who funded/controlled the place.
  For example, after NY was captured from the Dutch, it was a proprietary colony of the Duke of York.
  Better York sounds like it's just antagonistic towards the guy.
Uhhh, buddy? Most of those were Europeans born in "city name" who moved and founded "new city name" because they were born in "city name." This is a you thing.
Even old New York used to be New Amsterdam...
- Why they changed it?
  
  I can't say, people just liked it better that way.
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Minuit#:~:text=A%20common%20account%20states%20that,U.S.%20dollars%20as%20of%202020.
  
  Originally Dutch colony, then English colony
- Istanbul, not Constantinople!
My favorite is East Palestine, Ohio, named for being east of Palestine, Ohio. It is very far west of Palestine.
- even further east of Palestine
- Kinda like North Carolina is in the south, South Dakota is in the north, and West Virginia is in the east
But obviously pronounced wrong.
New Prague, MN, for example (/nu pɹeɪg/)
- I literally just used new prague as an example to my fiance over Christmas, about how we are super unoriginal in naming places in this country. Also hello fellow Minnesotan.
- New Praha, MN
Tbf a lot of the ‘new[city]’ was given their names by the British empire expanding their land. Just look at Australian state names.. The Americans doing this in more recent times are simply following suit.
*Europeans naming cities in America
texas didnt even bother adding the "new"
Also Canada did this a bunch too
New Zealand, named by America.
- They named New Mexico, too, and it was so cool that aliens came to check out the city of Roswell.
Europeans named the towns. People From Europe.
Come to NY.. we have Florida, and Poland within 50 miles of each other.
- Georgia has Paris, Athen and Rome.
  
  Oh we have a Rome too
Stop writing New before everything and just add a 2 at the end
- Instructions unclear. Named 8 cities Bismark.
No one even mentioned Georgia, the country that constantly gets advertising targeted for Georgia, the state.
No New Shitterton, though. :(
Poland, Indiana Poland, Maine Poland, Chautauqua County, New York Poland, Herkimer County, New York Poland, Ohio Poland Township, Mahoning County, Ohio Poland, Wisconsin
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland_(disambiguation)
After they were actually American, they resorted to "What it was called by the people who lived here first, but pronounced wrong"
- Hey, that's just not true. Sure, the name of my state is Wisconsin, but we also have names based on "What it was called by the French, but pronounced wrong," like Beloit ("buh-loit"), Butte des Morts ("boo-da-more"), and Lac Courte Oreilles ("la-coo-der-ray").
  
  true
- who lived here first
  Sounds like they still live here. And sounds like they were a homogeneous mass. There were differnt cultures living together and to choose a word they used, is a nice gesture, but still it was the whites who decided which one to pick
Explain new Mexico then. /s
- This may have been the question that the aliens wanted answered, when they landed there.
Essentially America came to be because they were looking to form a New Europe...so it tracks.
To be fair, have you ever been to regular York? I have, it sucked. New York is a slight to moderate improvement.
- For real? York is one of England's most historically important cities. And a really nice city, too. What sucked about it?
  
  Probably it being in England
Canada did it right, and just named the city without adding new.
London Ontario, Paris Ontario, Berlin Ontario (before it was renamed over a minor European dispute).
Unfortunately Nova Scotia was already called that before it joined.
Big Jian Yang energy
It's even more entertaining.
For example Manna-hatta was renamed by Europeans (specifically the Dutch) New Amsterdam and later renamed again by Europeans (this time the English) as New York.
By the time there were officially "Americans" (i.e. after the Independence of the United States) the deed was already done.
I know, we'll call it New Amsterdam!! How clever and inspired. Wait - wouldn't New YORK be better? Oh man you just read my mind.
- That's nobody's business but...
Wait until you hear about Latin American colonizers taking inspiration in the cities of "Granada", "Córdoba" and "Santiago" to name their cities "Granada", "Córdoba" and "Santiago". At least Venezuela changed a couple letters from Venezia.
Still better than I'd do naming things. It'd just be Landplace 1, Landplace 2, etc.
- The City of Townsville
  
  Australia or Powerpuff Girls?
- -This road
  -That road
- Don't forget underscores for easier parsing! Landplace_1, Landplace_2...
No new Scunthorpe though, for some reason 🤔
Sometimes they didn't even do that much. Which is why there's a Portland in Maine and a Portland in Oregon
It’s actually more like “Noo”.
You need all the inspiration you can get .

114 comments