Lake America?
I just saw that Donald Trump has signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America in all official documents and records. This is similar to what he did regarding the Gulf of Mexico, naming it the Gulf of America. (I've just verified this on Google Maps. His choice for the name has stuck.) I'm now wondering when Trump will start calling the Atlantic Ocean the American Ocean. I'm opposed to these measures, but for a different reason than most people might have. Yes, I think it is foolish to rename these bodies of water in what can only be called a petty and embarrassing act of national self-promotion. But I want to express a deeper concern than a political one. My concern is epistemic, and my point can be illustrated by imagining the result if this pattern continues. What if the United States started renaming all the waters surrounding it as some variant of "America"? If that happened, then the name of any given body of water would give no young ...