The Meanings of Country Names – a Map (Western Hemisphere)

Everyone probably knows that Ecuador has something to do with the equator, right? (It’s just the Spanish for that.) In a similar manner, you can probably figure out than Costa Rica means “rich coast” and Puerto Rico means “rich port.” You probably don’t need to be fluent in Spanish to figure those out.

But how about all those other countries? You might know that the US of A was named after one Amerigo Vespucci. But where did Amerigo come from? Yeah, Bolivia’s from Simon Bolivar, but what does his name mean? And God only knows where Guatemala and Uruguay come from.

So, here are a couple of maps that show what the Western Hemisphere would like if the countries’ names were all translated into English, from whatever their ultimate sources might be.

More maps:

• US states
• Eastern Hemisphere

North America

By the way, America is the Latin version of Amerigo, which is the Italian version of Emmerich, which means “rich house” (among other possibilities). Vespucci, on the other hand, means “little wasp.” 


Central America & the Caribbean

An alternate source of Belize is a native version of Wallace, after Peter Wallace, a Scottish pirate who established the first settlement in the country. Wallace, in turn, means “Welshman.”


South America

Venezuela means “little Venice,” and was named by none other than Amerigo Vespucci (I tell you, the guy got around). The native houses on stilts above Lake Maracaibo reminded him of the Italian city. 

Venice itself is traced back to a tribe called the Veneti. Their name, in turn, traces back to an Indo-European root meaning “love.” And all that probably means is that the tribe was friendly.

The Meanings of State Names – a Map

Everyone probably knows that Virginia was named after Elizabeth I, the “Virgin Queen.” And, if you know a little Spanish, you might know that Colorado is from the Spanish for “red” (chile colorado, anyone?)

I’ll bet you didn’t know, though, that Iowa means “sleepy ones.” Indeed, over half of our states derive their names from an Indian tongue. And if you don’t know any Algonquian, or Shawnee, or O'odham, you might have a little difficulty figuring all those out.

So, here’s what the US would like if the states’ names were all translated into English:

Couple of things ...

Note – There’s tons of disagreement on where some of these names come from. I feel I had to pick something, though, so I’ve gone with what I deemed the most likely.

Person – There’s no less than 15 states named after people (oh, and 1 god). Several of these are friendly people, but we’ve also got one enemy as well. Some are pretty generic (Carolina is from Charles, which basically means “man”), but we’ve also got some that are very particular – if not downright peculiar – including:

• Farmer (Georgia is from George, which is Greek for “farmer”)
• Thicket clearers
• Speaks normally
• Sleepy ones

Place – Looks like we’ve got 10 places (states, that is) named after other places. Some of these are pretty obvious – basically, adjective + land form – but some are rather out there:

• Bitter land – Mary is from the Hebrew word for “bitter” (now, why anyone would want to name their baby girl that is another matter entirely)
• Wheat sheaf town – Yup, that’s what our first president’s surname supposedly means
• Sheep pen woods – the “Penn” denotes someone who lived near a sheep pen; the “Sylvania” is just Latin for “woods.”

Water – Well, I guess you could say that a body of water is a thing. But there were just so darn many of ‘em (9), I thought I would separate 'em out. Nothing too odd here, and they’re all from Indian languages. By the way, there are also 4 that are related to water, including 2 islands, some river flats, and 1 “wooden boat.”

Adjectives – 8 states are simple adjectives, with 4 of those coming straight from the Spanish. “Of the war” is the oddest one here (and is actually from a Lord de la Warr, some Colonial dude).

Other thing – Maybe I should have called this “Miscellaneous.” We’ve got 2 winds, 1 tree, and 1 lime kiln. Yeah, that's pretty random.


More maps:

• Countries: Western Hemisphere
• Countries: Eastern Hemisphere

How gerrymandered are we?

It’s a problem, right? I mean, look at this map of my home state:

Or, how about this map of the Detroit area:

And finally (and also to show it’s not just a Republican thing), this one of Maryland’s 3rd congressional district:

So, obviously there’s a problem here. But how to show it in a nice concrete, mathematical way?


Methodology

This one is actually pretty straightforward. Here’s what I did:

1. Totally eliminated Louisiana (they have some weird system where that does not pit Republicans and Democrats against each other straight up)
2. Calculated the percentage of Republicans in each house delegation (e.g., Mississippi, with 3 Republicans and 1 Democrat, comes in at 75%)
3. Calculated the percentage of Republican votes cast in all house races (once again, Mississippi, with 681,000 Republican votes to 450,000 Democratic ones, come in at 60%)
4. Subtracted the difference between the two, to see what kind of advantage dividing the state up into districts might have had (in Mississippi’s case, 15%)
5. Ranked them all

So, not unlike comparing the electoral vote to the popular in the presidential election. But with this one being a lot more amenable to actual intervention.

Let’s see what we came up with …


"Dirty" Sweep

There are actually 11 states out there that are solely Republican or solely Democrat.  Now, some of them have only 1 congressional delegate to begin with, so we really can’t point to gerrymandering in those instances. I’ve gone ahead and shown those here, but with light shading to distinguish them:

A couple of things to note:

• The Republicans have a distinct advantage, 11 to 6
• They are strongest in the Plains and mountains, the Dems in the Northeast
• Massachusetts wins the prize for 1-party state, with the highest number of delegates all of one party, at 9

Too True Blue

So, I think we can already see that this can go both ways. Now, here are the states that had 10% more delegates than they should have had, based on state-wide votes:

Note that I did eliminate the states with only 1 delegate (no chance of gerrymandering there).

Now, just to give you an idea of the strength of these differences, here’s a nice bar chart:

So, except for Nevada, pretty much the usual suspects, right?


Too True Red

And here’s what it looks like on the other side of the aisle:

And numbers wise:

No surprise there with the solid South, but how about all those states in the Midwest? 


Just Right

So, is there anyone playing fair out there? Luckily, there are a few. Here are the 10 states that were under 10%, positive or negative:

And here’s how that shook out exactly:

Pretty scattered around, no? Also, some of these seemed pretty obviously purple – Illinois and Colorado, in particular. I really am wondering, though, what Texas (on one side) and New York (on the other) are doing here.


Final Thoughts

• Republicans win the gerrymandering sweepstakes, with a score of 22 states over the 10% threshold to 10 for the Dems
• New Hampshire wins the most gerrymandered state award with a difference of -48% (it has 2 Democratic congressmen, though only 52% of the state voted for a Democratic candidate)
• Arizona gets the least gerrymandered state award, with a difference of only 1% (Maine comes in 2nd with 2%)
• There are other, much more detailed ways to looks at this (ways that I will leave to the professionals), but I did think this was rather interesting as a quick read

My Favorite Demonyms

Your favorite what? Why, my favorite demonyms.

Heck, not even the word editor in Blogger recognizes the term. All it really is, though, is a word for a person from a certain place. You know, a North Carolinian ... a Pittsburgher ... an Englishman (I am or have been all 3 of those, by the way).

Now, those are all pretty normal. There are, however, plenty of ... um ... rather interesting ones out there. Like these ...


Countries, States & Provinces

• Utah - Utahn
• Yukon - Yukonian
• Tuvalu -Tuvaluan
• St Kitts & Nevis - Kittitian / Nevesian
• Botswana - Motswana
• Burundi - Umurundi
• Lesotho - Mosotho
• Kiribati - i-Kiribati
• Vanuatu - Ni-Vanuatu
• Flanders - Fleming
• Isle of Man - Manxman 

American Cities

• Memphis - Memphian
• Phoenix - Phoenician
• Annapolis - Annapolitan
• Minneapolis - Minneapolitan
• Indianapolis - Indianapolitan
• Tampa - Tampanian (the alternate "Tampan" just sounds too much like a feminine hygiene product)
• Saskatchewan - Saskatchewanian
• Halifax - Haligonian
• Little Rock - Little Rocker

British Cities

For some reason, the British Isles seem to have a corner on this stuff.

• Glasgow - Glaswegian (more familiarly, a Weegie)
• Galway - Galwegian
• Bath - Bathonian (so, what's wrong with Bather?)
• Cork - Corkonian (or Corker, for that matter?)
• Devon - Devonian (though I associate this more with the Paleozoic era)
• Exeter - Exonian
• Oxford - Oxonian
• Manchester - Mancunian (more familiarly, a Manc)
• Cambridge - Cantabrigian
• Leeds - Leodensian
• Newcastle - Novocastrian (yup, that's the Latin translation)
• Liverpool - Liverpudlian

Other Cities

• Monaco - Monegasque
• Hong Kong - Hong Konger (Hong Kongese is what I'm familiar with)
• Prague - Praguer
• Bucharest - Bucharester
• Damascus - Damascene (I mostly associate this with a form of metalworking)
• Macao - Macanese
• Hamburg - Hamburger
• Frankfurt - Frankfurter
• Oslo - Oslovian
• Corfu - Corfiot (like Cyprus/Cypriot, I guess)

More geography stuff:

• Relative sizes of states and countries
• The meanings of country names
• The meanings of state names
• How many Springfields are there in the US?
• What's wrong with US time zones
• The most and least accessible state capitals

Electoral College Redux

Well, they did it again. The Republicans lost the popular vote, but won the Electoral College. This is actually the 4th time this has happened. You may well remember the last time, when Bush II beat Gore. It also happened, though, in 1876 and 1888.

So, I think we all know that the Electoral College has issues. It basically puts states ahead of people. And one way it does that is to give smaller states a distinct advantage by adding up representatives and senators to come up with their electoral votes. 

In other words, even if you have a measly half a million people in your state (I’m looking at you, Wyoming), you still get 3 whole votes. And what that means is that it takes a lot fewer people to merit an electoral vote (about 194,000 for Wyoming) than it does for a much more populous state like, say, California (not quite 700,000).


Sans Senators

So, what I was wondering was whether this imbalance could have thrown this past election. It’s a simple calculation – just subtract 2 from every state’s electoral vote, add ‘em up all, and see who won.

Unfortunately, it’s not enough to tip the election. Trump’s total does go down, but only from 57% to 56%. Turns out, though Trump got most of the little states (NY, SD, ND, WY), he also got some big ones as well (OH, PA, FL, TX).

Interestingly, it did make a difference back in 2000. Instead of Bush II beating Gore 271 to 266, it would have been Gore 224 to 211. Sigh …

Of the other two where the electoral college and popular vote didn’t match up, only one of those would have been reversed. In 1876, Rutherford Hayes beat Samuel Tilden by an electoral college vote of 185 to 184. Take the senators out of the equation, and it’s 143 to 150.

So, no, my method doesn’t get rid of the Electoral College altogether ... but it does make it a little fairer.

NFL Realignment

Houston, I think we have a problem. Actually, Houston, I think you’re fine. I’m a little worried about your neighbor Dallas though.

Honestly, what are the Dallas Cowboys doing in the NFC East? In whose world is Dallas on the East Coast? Now, I realize Cowboys vs. Redskins is one of the best rivalries around. To look at it an unbiased way, though, you have to admit that that rivalry is somewhat artificial. Perhaps if the Cowboys played a little closer to home, some stronger, more natural rivalries might develop.

Along those lines, is Indianapolis really a Southern city? Seeing as its closest rivals are Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Chicago, I’m thinking not. Same thing with Kansas City (should they really be playing all those West Coast teams?), Miami (the most southern team there is but whose archrivals include the Bills, Pats, and Jets), and Baltimore (40 miles from DC and 100 from Philly, but in neither’s division).


A Modest Proposal

Take a look at this …

Now, let me explain what I did:

1. Divided the map into 3 basic regions – south, west, and north - based on how the teams naturally seem to break out
2. Counted up the teams in each
3. Noted that the South and West were almost perfect (i.e., have 8 teams, 4 of which can go into respective NFC and AFC divisions)
4. Noted that the North had 16 teams
5. Divided the North right down the middle, giving us an eastern and western group (northeast and Midwest, really)

I then compared these groups with what the divisions look like presently.  That really made those oddballs I cited above stand out.

Finally, I started moving teams around. Here’s how to read what I did:

• Red dots – NFC teams that didn’t move
• Blue dots – AFC teams that didn’t move
• Dots with black circles around them – teams that did move (division, but not conference)

That leaves us with one real outlier, Dallas. Because the southern group had 1 too many teams, and the western group had 1 too few, it seemed only natural to move 1 southerner to the west. Because Texas is the furthest western state, Houston and Dallas seemed the most obvious choices. To make this so only 1 of them would get messed up, I elected to send Dallas to the west. That Dallas is popular all across the country made that decision a little easier as well.

Make sense? Any objections? Ready for me to take over from Roger Goodell?

Top Presidential Pets

Our current chief executive is a little unusual in that he doesn’t have any pets. He shares that distinction with only one other POTUS, James Knox Polk. At the other extreme, JFK had 21, Calvin Coolidge 26, and Teddy Roosevelt 31.

Though most of the presidential pets were dogs, there were also plenty of cats, birds, and horses. There were also no shortage of rather unusual ones as well. John Adams, for instance, had silkworms and an alligator. Teddy Roosevelt’s menagerie included a snake, lizard, rat, badger, bear, owl, and laughing hyena. Not to be outdone, the Coolidges kept a raccoon, donkey, goose, bobcat, bear, lion, wallaby, antelope, and pygmy hippopotamus.

Mrs. Coolidge with Rebecca

Pet names are on a similar spectrum. At one extreme, would you believe George W Bush had a dog named Spot, Reagan dogs named Rex and Lucky, Jefferson a parrot called Polly, and Lincoln a dog named Fido? At the other extreme, we’ve got:

• Tax Reduction and Budget Bureau – lion cubs owned by the Coolidges
• Mr. Reciprocity and Mr. Protection – two opossums belonging to Benjamin Harrison
• Misty Malarky Ying Yang – Amy Carter’ s Siamese cat
• Emily Spinach – a garter snake that was part of the Teddy Roosevelt zoo
• Satan, a dog owned by John Adams

So, how about those top presidential pets?


#10 – Bo, Portuguese Water Dog, Barrack Obama

I debated including this one. Don’t presidential scholars usually wait a little while before passing judgement on the most recent chief execs?

That said, Bo certainly was in the news. First of all, the Obamas did not come to the White House with a pet. In fact, one of the president’s first decisions was to choose what to get. Needless to say, the speculation that all produced resulted in more than its fair share of newsprint, videotape, and web pages.

And when the decision was announced, the strange breed that was chosen generated even more buzz. Readers may not remember that one of the main reasons for that choice was Malia’s allergies (and Bo’s hypoallergenic nature).

"U.S. Loses U.N. Membership After Soapy Bo Obama Jumps Up On Secretary-General" (The Onion)

#9 – Liberty, Golden Retriever, Gerald Ford

Am I dating myself here?

Liberty might be most famous for having puppies, right there at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The Fords kept one of them, Misty. Liberty was actually given to the Fords by their daughter Susan (I had a major crush on Susan - now I'm really dating myself). 

#8 – Barney, Scottish Terrier, George W. Bush

Awesome – our first Scottie!

The Bushes actually had several well-known pets – including Miss Beazley, another Scottish Terrier, and India, an all-black cat. Barney will have to stand in for them all. A couple of interesting facts about Barney:

• He was born Bernard
• He has a brother named Clinton (!?!?)
• He was famous for biting members of the press corps
• He was the star of 11 videos, including Barney's Holiday Extravaganza, Barney Reloaded, and Barney Has Found Miss Beazley

#7 – Him & Her, Beagles, LBJ

LBJ was quite the classy fella. In addition to showing everyone his gall bladder surgery scars, talking to reporters while on the can, and urinating in a sink, Johnson also used to liked to pick up his beagles by the ears. 

This, in fact, may have represented the first presidential pet controversy. Yup, animal lovers all over the country called him to task. Somehow or other, he still managed to beat Barry Goldwater in the ’64 election.

#6 – Socks, cat, Bill Clinton

Socks was actually not the Clinton’s only famous pet. Buddy, a chocolate lab, was almost as well known. Readers may not remember, though, that Buddy basically forced Socks out. “I did better with the Palestinians and the Israelis than I've done with Socks and Buddy,” said Bill. Socks was actually a stray that the Clintons adopted in Arkansas.

God, I love these shots!

#5 – Millie, Springer Spaniel, George HW Bush

Heck, Millie’s a published author! How could I not include her in this list?

Yup, Millie “wrote” Millie's Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush. It was released in 1990, and actually made it to #1 on the New York Times bestseller nonfiction list. Millie was also portrayed on Murphy Brown, Wings, Who’s the Boss, and The Simpsons.

Millie and ghostwriter

#4 – Rob Roy, White Collie, Calvin Coolidge

Who? What? Rob Whuh? Hunh?

Rob Roy was arguably the first presidential pet celebrity. There’s not a lot out there on him, so let me share this wonderful profile of him from Wikipedia:

• Species:  Canis lupus familiaris
• Breed:  Collie
• Sex:  Male
• Born:  c. 1922, Oshkosh, WI
• Died:  1928 (aged 5–6), Washington, D.C.
• Nation from:  American
• Occupation:  Companion animal
• Owner:  Calvin Coolidge
• Appearance:  White

Rob Roy even graced the FLOTUS’s official portrait

#3 – Laddie Boy, Airedale, Warren G. Harding

Now, here’s our first real presidential pet celeb. Some of Laddie Boy’s many firsts include:

• Being welcomed at Cabinet meetings
• Having White House birthday parties
• Getting “interviewed” by the White House press corps
• Having a statue made of him
• Being immortalized in song

Laddie Boy was also made something of a poster … er, dog … for animal rights. 

Pulitzer material, no?

#2 – Checkers, Cocker Spaniel, Richard Nixon

Poor pup. Checkers’ owner actually made this little guy more infamous than famous. 

Yup, this little Cocker Spaniel was the subject of Tricky Dick’s famous Checkers speech. Nixon used this speech to defend against allegations of misusing campaign contributions. He pulled in Checkers as an example of a contribution, one he wasn’t about to give up.

"Get outta here, mutt!  Can’t ya see I’m readin’ the paper?"

#1 – Fala, FDR

Fala was a lot like Toto, of the Wizard of Oz – just so darn cute. And like all terriers – especially Scotties –  Fala had tons of personality.

Some fun facts about this adorable little fella:

• An MGM film was made about him
• He was made an honorary private in the US Army
• He was a codeword for soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge (if you didn’t know the name of the president’s dog, you were probably a Nazi ... and would get shot)

Interestingly, Fala was also the subject of a scandal and a speech. FDR had supposedly sent a destroyer back for the little dog when the 32nd president mistakenly left him on one of the Aleutians. Roosevelt’s speech turned the accusations into a huge joke, insuring his triumph in the 1944 presidential elections.

The only thing we have to fear is thunderstorms, and firecrackers, and …