wolfpack75's review against another edition
4.0
Overall I enjoyed reading the story of how places in the United States got their names. The book is as accurate as it can be when dealing with names that are part folk myth, there is at least one instance where the author was incorrect. However, the book is well-researched and worth the read just to see how place names evolve or are changed.
chrisiant's review against another edition
4.0
Totally interesting subject matter. Stewart's writing at times feels rambly and repetitive, but then it's peppered throughout with quirky stories of the origin of specific places. It also seems very thorough, with some good comparison of the historical trends in place naming as well as just a chronicling of what the names are and how they came to be.
I appreciate Stewart's contempt for people who replaced solid, if sometimes leaning towards crude, names that reflected the experience of the settlers, with poncy faux-English names like Wildermere.
If anything this has made me more curious about the origins of place-names elsewhere, though I imagine the longer an area's recorded history goes back the harder it is to trace such things with any degree of accuracy. But as Stewart chronicles the numerous name-changes some settlements in the comparatively young US have undergone it makes me wonder about the number of changes, particularly in areas like the Balkans that have frequently had empires pass across them and back.
Interesting stuff, well-written and good on Stewart for providing extensive notations. I appreciate them.
I appreciate Stewart's contempt for people who replaced solid, if sometimes leaning towards crude, names that reflected the experience of the settlers, with poncy faux-English names like Wildermere.
If anything this has made me more curious about the origins of place-names elsewhere, though I imagine the longer an area's recorded history goes back the harder it is to trace such things with any degree of accuracy. But as Stewart chronicles the numerous name-changes some settlements in the comparatively young US have undergone it makes me wonder about the number of changes, particularly in areas like the Balkans that have frequently had empires pass across them and back.
Interesting stuff, well-written and good on Stewart for providing extensive notations. I appreciate them.
zachkuhn's review
5.0
Took me like twenty years but damn if it isn't a great historical work about what we call things.
innatejames's review
3.0
It's a little dry. But in a 1950's tv program kind of way. We're used to whistles and bells in our culture nowadays. I know SEVERAL people who won't attend a movie on the basis of monotony if it doesn't have at least one explosion or murder in it.
This book is not for them. I kept having to remind myself that the book was written 50 years ago. As a textbook. And apparently a very well respected one. George Stewart has a mild humor as he writes. He passes the silly, the overly complicated, and the mundane stories of how we named the New Land mostly in a hurry and mostly without having done it for thousands of years.
I'm a name nerd. So I liked it. I learned the 6 basic ways people name places. I learned that most of the 'Indian' names I grew up around in Michigan were really just badly heard Sioux/Algonquin filtered through badly translated French. Same is true for most of the 'Indian' names of the states. I learned the spelling of Arkansas vs. the pronunciation of Ar-kan-saw caused a lot more furor than one modern reader could believe. Same is true for Mt. McKinley. I learned the county I was born in (Genesee County, Michigan) was named after the county and town in New York state. The Geneseo Indians probably never lived in Michigan. That shoots down a lot of childhood daydreams I had. Alot of the west (west of Appalachia, that is) was named to get people to move there and buy land. That explains all the Mt. Pleasants, the Oak Brooks, the Springfields. I learned that most of the states after the original 13 had been chosen from several different names (i.e. Washington was almost Columbia after the river, Missouri was almost Jefferson, Minnesota was almost Mississippi).
This book is not for them. I kept having to remind myself that the book was written 50 years ago. As a textbook. And apparently a very well respected one. George Stewart has a mild humor as he writes. He passes the silly, the overly complicated, and the mundane stories of how we named the New Land mostly in a hurry and mostly without having done it for thousands of years.
I'm a name nerd. So I liked it. I learned the 6 basic ways people name places. I learned that most of the 'Indian' names I grew up around in Michigan were really just badly heard Sioux/Algonquin filtered through badly translated French. Same is true for most of the 'Indian' names of the states. I learned the spelling of Arkansas vs. the pronunciation of Ar-kan-saw caused a lot more furor than one modern reader could believe. Same is true for Mt. McKinley. I learned the county I was born in (Genesee County, Michigan) was named after the county and town in New York state. The Geneseo Indians probably never lived in Michigan. That shoots down a lot of childhood daydreams I had. Alot of the west (west of Appalachia, that is) was named to get people to move there and buy land. That explains all the Mt. Pleasants, the Oak Brooks, the Springfields. I learned that most of the states after the original 13 had been chosen from several different names (i.e. Washington was almost Columbia after the river, Missouri was almost Jefferson, Minnesota was almost Mississippi).
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