Greetings, my fellow port swillers!
Ol’ Robbo mentioned the grinding dullness of the drive down I-95 south of DeeCee in the post below. This is due in large part to the fact that there are few natural landmarks or other geographical phenomena to break it up: The landscape simply turns from endless gentle hills to endless low country swamp to endless sandbar. The trees simply turn from endless slash pine to endless palmetto and orange groves.
One of the very few exceptions to this monotony is Lake Marion, which one crosses about midway through South Carolina. (Historickally-minded friends of the decanter will know that it is named after Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War hero known as the “Swamp Fox” for his guerrilla operations in those parts. They will also know that Marion was the basis for about half of Mel Gibson’s character in the ridiculously inaccurate movie “The Patriot”, the other half being filched from the life of Daniel Morgan.)
Anyhoo, as we crossed over said lake, a thought wandered into ol’ Robbo’s braim: With respect to just about* every other kind of body of water, in American English we always put the proper name first: The Atlantic Ocean; San Francisco Bay; Pearl Harbor; the Mississippi River; Walden Pond; Cedar Creek; Bob’s Run, etc.. However, with lakes we do just the opposite: Lake Michigan; Lake Marion; Lake Wazzapamani; Lake O’ The Woods, etc.**
Why is this?
I suppose it probably has something to do with early French exploration in North America, with their convention of naming such bodies of water Lac Such-and-Such. But if this is the case, why didn’t this juxtaposition also carry over to rivers, creaks, and the like?
(No, ol’ Robbo wasn’t going road happy. I really find this sort of thing quite fascinating. Apparently nobody else in the family does, however: When I floated the question in the car it was met with silence.)
Any ideas?
* I’ll give you “bayou” (as in Bayou Lafourche). “Gulf” (as in Gulf of Mexico or Gulf of Maine) also seems to be an exception, but it’s curious that the name always seems to include that “of”. And don’t we say “Leyte Gulf”? Okay, maybe “bight” (as in “Bight of Benin”), too, but then again there’s a Bigelow Bight in Maine.
** I specify American English because the Brits seem to name their lakes the other way ’round.
UPDATE: Yes, I should have put in a general caveat about exceptions to the rule. I knew that even as I hit the “post” button. I also knew that some smart guy would come in and call me out if I didn’t. Centuwion! Thwow this man to the gwound! (The welease Wodger…)
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December 29, 2016 at 10:23 am
profmondo
Near my native Nashville (consider the alliteration lagniappe), the two major bodies of water (both Corps of Engineers lakes) are Percy Priest Lake and Old Hickory Lake. We also have Radnor Lake and Reelfoot Lake, with Dale Hollow Lake (also Corps) a bit to the east. And in Canada, of course, there’s Great Slave Lake.
Just sayin’, is all I’m doin’…
December 29, 2016 at 12:14 pm
nightfly
I’m not sure how consistent English usage is… Bering Strait vs. Straits of Hormuz; Barnegat Bay vs. the Bay of Bengal.
And then there’s the peculiar regional usage “kill”, a holdover from when the Dutch held New York – it means, roughly, river or stream – and that’s not consistent either: so it’s the Arthur Kill but also “Kill van Kull,” presumably because Van Kull Kill would sound weird in any language.
For further fun, consider that people have often forgotten where the kills came from, so you also have stuff like the Schuylkill River – the River of Schuyl River, essentially – as well as towns or other geographic features named after rivers, most notably the Catskills.
December 29, 2016 at 2:01 pm
rbj1
Speaking of kills, PETA decided to have a cow one time over Fishkill Creek, in the Hudson Valley, because, stupid liberals. Until it was pointed out to them that kill meant river, not to go out and kill fish. Unless you’re going to eat them. Stupid liberals.
And aren’t the “South of the Border” signs now considered natural phenomena?
December 29, 2016 at 2:40 pm
Robbo
I recall a classmate in high school Latin who, having got completely stuck trying to translate, muttered that he wished Latin was an “easy” language like English. The teacher just about took his head off for saying something so completely idiotic.
December 29, 2016 at 2:43 pm
Robbo
I thought I had read that the South of the Border signs were all being taken down but, no, they’re still there. Some even look rayther new.
December 29, 2016 at 10:16 pm
quiltbabe
Lakes go both ways in Wisconsin. Lake Michigan, Lake Winnebago, Lake Butte des Mortes, Green Lake, Lost Lake, Trout Lake. For what it’s worth, the names beginning with “Lake” outnumber the others by about two to one.
December 30, 2016 at 10:18 am
captainned
While here in VT, there’s a bloody lot of proper ponds goin’ on and pretending to be lakes, no matter where the word goes in the naming.