As much as Europeans don’t like it, Americans are your children.
There were no Americans when many of those places were named…
and the original European names are also pretty functional:
I believe Amsterdam is just “River Dam”
And York is just “Yew”, presumably named after trees that grew there. (Eburacon -> Eboracum -> Eoforwic -> Jórvík -> York)
But New York in the United States isn’t even directly named after the English city of York, but rather a person (James Stuart) who was the Duke of York when England took control of the territory from the Dutch.
I was down at the New Amsterdam
Staring at this yellow-haired girl
Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation
With a black-haired flamenco dancer
You know, she dances while his father plays guitar
Sure but calling them Americans is likely, mostly, sorta true but also ignores an important fact… They were Europeans (or near descendants of) calling the places that. Often a place was named that place because it reminded them of home / to honor their parents home.
Some other notable examples: New Zealand
São Carlos, Brazil
Munich, Saskatchewan
Liverpool, New South Wales
Nueva York, Colombia
True, but I think we may be the only country other than India to name a major city after another major city in the same country. Portland Oregon was named after Portland Maine
Super interesting. Didn’t know that. Thanks.
Don’t forget the number of places named Springfield. A quick search pulls up an article that puts the number at at least 30 different places in the US.
So is nueva York named after York or new York?
Even old New York was once New Amsterdam.
Why’d they change it?
I can’t say…
When you get to the south west it becomes a place in Mexico which is a place in Spain or straight up just named after a Spanish conquistador.
In Québec they were a bit more diverse and also named lots of places after saints.
There are also a lot of places that kept the original native names. Not as numerous as the “New [European place]” ones, but enough that you notice.
We also have a few original names, like bucksnort, horsethief basin and truth or consequences
Hey hey, we did call it “New”. Well, sometimes anyway. I definitely lived in town just called York.
Just add new to the name
And yet we don’t have a Shitterton
Thats the S in USA
Meanwhile, Alexander the Great: You’ll be me lol
It was Europeans who named those places.
Yeah, people from that city or place moved there and named their new home after their old home. There’s a very Dutch area of Michigan with many immigrants from the Netherlands still there. Want to know a couple town names? Holland and Zeeland.
But you forgot, we also have to mispronounce it then get mad if you don’t mispronounce it the right way.
-someone that was born in New berlin, not “new berLIN”, But “new BURlin”.
For a better example: Versailles, Kentucky. Guess how that one is pronounced.
Shit like that is embarrassing imo
I will go with ver-sales
Winner!
Oh God,I had an ex from Georgia that would hit me with these. Let’s go with “verse-ay-lees”.
Verse-ales
How about naming the town after a city in Austria, but still the Roman way? Not just once, not just twice, but
(EDIT: I’m having déja vu after the last time had I brought up the several dozen Springfields)
That’s just how Wien is spelled in English. We also pronounce it how it’s spelled in English. No different from calling Österreich Austria
Strong levi-o-sa energy.
100% it’s all in the emphasis. It’s subtle, but just different enough that you can tell if someone is from the area based on their pronunciation.
Yea apperantly Worcester is pronounced “wis-tah”
More evidence that Egypt is European.
