What America has stolen from Washington

Do you know how the state of Washington got its name? A congressman from Kentucky insisted that the name we wanted, Columbia, would be confused with the District of Columbia. The federal government changed our name without our permission to Washington to avoid confusion.

In case you didn’t already know, Washington is the name for the city in the District of Columbia that is home to the nation’s capital. District of Columbia is rarely used. Apparently, the federal government doesn’t want us to use the name that they forced on us. I don’t like that. If they are going to make us refer to our state as Washington, the least they can do is let is refer to our state as Washington.

Our name dates back to our years as a territory, but we retained it when we became a state on November 11, 1889. Do you notice anything interesting about that date? November 11 is Veterans Day. I have been known to counter the propaganda of Independence Day by celebrating my state instead of my country. November 11 is a big day for me, but the federal government doesn’t want me to celebrate my home state.

While I’m talking about what we have lost, what about the Mountain? I’m talking about Tahoma (sometimes other names such as Tacoma are used). If you have visited certain pictures from my Flickr account, you know that this is how I prefer to label Mt. Rainier. Tahoma is a local name with Native American origins that many locals still like to use. Unfortunately, most people would rather use the name of someone who fought against America during the American Revolution.

Let me add one more big item to my list of what America has taken from us, anything derived from Olympus. These terms have been a big part of our state since Mount Olympus was named after a Greek mountain with the same name. We also have the Olympic Mountains, Olympic National Park, Olympic National Forest, Olympic Marmots, Olympic Peninsula, our capital city of Olympia, and their Olympian residents. After these names had been established, the Olympic Games that originated in Greece were revived. The USOC was formed, and one of their primary goals is to crack down on those who try to capitalize on the games or Washingtonian geography. Before the Vancouver games, the USOC hit a low point by fighting a trademark filed by Olympia’s newspaper, the Olympian. While the newspaper has gone through some minor name changes, the name in the middle of the dispute predates the establishment of the modern Olympic games.

Imagine if the city of York revived an old tradition. If they turned such a tradition into an international event, their name could be used with protection around the world. Would people accept the idea that all businesses with “New York” in their name would be legally required to come up with something new to call themselves? Would people accept the idea that businesses in New York couldn’t acknowledge the city (or state) that they are located in? That’s essentially what the USOC is trying to do to us.

So in summary, we have lost:

• The name Columbia
• The name Washington
• The date of our statehood
• The name of our most noteworthy mountain
• The right to use our geography in such things as business names

I’m sure that this country has taken more than this list since this list came purely off of the top of my head.