Sunday, January 13, 2013

What's in a name?

What goes around, comes around, they do say.  Seven years ago almost to the day, I posted about "iffy" names - names which passed without comment in years gone by, but which are inclined to raise eyebrows (or worse) today.  One I mentioned was the American football team, the Washington Redskins - redskin now seen as an offensive word to native Americans.  So to bring the story up to date, it appears that the team do not in fact currently play in Washington, but may wish to move there at some time in the future, and the mayor of that city has said that they will only be allowed to do so if they change their name.  Their history (originally as the Boston Redskins) goes back to 1933 and I would imagine the vast majority of fans of the game don't give the name a second thought.  Another example of a small tail wagging a large dog?

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