From the email:
Mitch
I see that the Minneapolis park board has changed the name of Lake Calhoun to “Lake Bde Maka Ska”.
How in the flaming hootie-hoo is that pronounced?
Sincerely,
Woe-Begone
Ms. Begone:
“Bde Maka Ska” is pronounced “Betsy Hodges Slop”.
Glad to help.
That is all.
by
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A few years ago I heard an NPR interview with the late, great Ray Bradbury.
The interviewer asked Bradbury about the story that The Martian Chronicles was a metaphor for the European settlement of North America. To the interviewer’s not-quite disguised horror, Bradbury explained that it was, and that he thought it was important for the settlers to rename everything on Mars with the names they wanted. They were the conquerors, they were their mountains and rivers now. It would have been silly to keep the Indian Martian names for things.
This doesn’t mean the Indians have reconquered Minnesota. The people who renamed Lake Calhoun are the conquerors. The fact its unpronounceable is a bonus. “Your lake? You can’t even pronounce it.” The conquerors are the lunatics on the Minneapolis council.
Who cares about a silly name for a lake. A more vital question: what is Minneapolis’s policy on the recent events in Macedonia?
Im sure the poor saps lives up on the Scorched White Earth rez immediately took a yuge upturn with the re-naming of the lake.
NEWS FLASH: Given Coca-cola’s history of racism, sexism and homophobia, the Minneapolis City Council has ordained that the classic beverage must be sold in the city under the name of “New Coke” and formulated without sugar.
“How in the flaming hootie-hoo is that pronounced?”
I’m certain it is trochees. “LAKE bDE maKA ska.
Someone brought up a great point on FB yesterday. When will Calhoun Parkway have its name changed? And will the tony residents of the Calhoun Beach Club be willing to have the name of their residence changed? Will owners of other apartment buildings near the lake that have Calhoun in the name be willing to change the business name to something else?
“Colquhoun” is an alternate form of “Calhoun.” Maybe they could use that instead? It’s somewhat more pronouncable than “bDe Maka Ska.”
It’s important that we all speak the same language and understand each other as perfectly as possible to increase cooperation and avoid conflict. In that vein I’d like to help with the common pronunciation of lake bde maka ska: “kaal-hoon”
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