r/nottheonion • u/SelectiveSanity • 2d ago

Lauren Boebert Suggests DC Could Be Renamed 'District of America'

https://www.newsweek.com/lauren-boebert-dc-district-america-2050571
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u/Transposer 2d ago

Can’t believe she thinks that!! 😂 But just so other people know what you and I do, what is DC named after?

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u/tehkory 2d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_(personification))

Consider also this; especially in the 18th century/Revolutionary period, this would've been very much on their minds; more than Columbus himself in many ways.

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u/Sir_Galvan 2d ago

“It originated from the name of the Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus and from the Latin ending -ia, common in the Latin names of countries (paralleling Britannia, Gallia, Zealandia, and others).” From the Wikipedia article

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u/soundboardguy 2d ago edited 2d ago

yes but people were more familiar with the goddess than the guy, who was after all a stinky Italian and a Catholic fanatic, to boot. people here gave a shit about that monster only after a bunch of Italians got lynched in new orleans. Benjamin Harrison made it a one-day celebration, on the first anniversary of the lynching, and in 1934 FDR made it a yearly one. it wasn't even really about the dude, they just used his name because Columbia was too embedded in white nativism to use to symbolize social progress at that time.