"Negro Lake"

Cecil’s newspaper column this week http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000317.html Is “squaw” an obscene insult? (17-Mar-2000)
, he responds a question about a proposal in the Maine legislature seeking to ban the term “squaw” in place names because Native Americans consider it a vulgarity. After his usual masterful review of the historical and linguistic evidence, Cecil concludes that “squaw” is not derived from an obscenity, but that some Native Americans would find it offensive nonetheless.

Toward the end of his column Cecil states:

This leaves me with two questions:

  1. Are any of the 143 places that were renamed “Negro Lake” (or “Negro” whatever) in 1967 still named that?

  2. What is the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, and what has it done since 1967 to protect us from offensive names?
    [Note: This message has been edited by JillGat]

Go here: http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/gnis/gnisform.html and type “negro” into the “Feature Name” box and hit “Submit Query”. The search engine will return 561 place names with the word “negro” in them for the United States alone.

Thanks Ursa. That quickly answered the first part of my question and gave me the link to the second part. From http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/gnis/bgn.html :

And the Board’s policy on derogatory names:

What a great resource! I was a fifth grader all over again, looking up every dirty word I could think of.

Bitch Islands sounds like an Andrew Dice Clay joke about a resort that caters to women’s needs through a series of monthly visits.

And I really wonder anybody swims in Shite Creek.

I’m sure there is a more adult use for this resource, and I am sure someday I will grow up enough to use it for that.

Obfus.

And people complain that the government doesn’t do anything for the tax dollars we send them.

Cecil’s column has been posted now.

Is “squaw” an obscene insult? (17-Mar-2000)