Mark Monmonier's "From Squaw Tit To Whorehouse Meadow" - Changes To America's Cultural Landscape

Uploaded by : Essays-Now.com

3 pages in length. Early Americans have a legacy of being indelicate about using descriptive language when discussing the attributes of other cultures. More accurately, history shows quite a vulgar streak of adjectives that, regrettably, have held fast in the American lexicon. So why should it be so surprising to learn those saddled with the chore of mapping the entire United States would resort to the same lascivious bawdy, tasteless tactics for naming everything from cities to mountain ranges to gulches? While labeling places with toponyms derived from body parts and racial slurs may not have been considered scatological during the map-making process, Monmonier notes how the transformation that ultimately followed this time - when cultural awareness and sensitivity began to take hold - set in motion a tremendous undercurrent of furor to abolish such disparaging monikers. No additional sources cited.