No? Just me? Shame.
It's late. I should be asleep.
Soooo all this is from skimming Wikipedia... Various siouan-language-speaking tribes in the area. Arkansas is the Algonquin name [passed through French] for the Quapaw Nation. Kansas is one spelling of one name of the Kaw nation. Probably also derived through French and Algonquin. Kansas City was founded in the Kansas River of course. I know that KCMO was in the Kansas territory at one point, but it's way too late at night for me to figure out when it ended up on the wrong side of the border. KCK is half a century younger so somewhere in there.
. . . Man. I did not know these were French spellings of Native American names. I didn't pick up that that's what you were saying last night. Now I feel like a heel. Don't get me wrong, I'll gladly make fun of English and how non-sensical it is half the time, and I totally thought Kansas and Arkansas were English words, but it's not my place to make fun of another language. Thanks for taking the time to look up and share some history with me. I appreciate it. I feel like a bit of an asshole now, though. Sincerest apologies if I offended anyone reading this post. I legit didn't know.
You don't need to feel bad for finding humor in the game of telephone that results in most of our place names. There are a whole bunch of names in the Midwest that came from the French asking one native questions about people who spoke completely unrelated languages that they didn't know.
In general, I agree. Seeing as how awful the history of Native American treatment in America is, including the willful destruction of their languages, in this instance I don't know . . . I feel like I messed up. I'm not the kind of guy that would want to blindly, and definitely not willfully, make fun of other people's language. It's a pretty precious cornerstone of culture.
Huh. I do think the situations is funny. Feels like i'm making fun of our mixups not their native languages, but what do I know about the other perspective.
Ashamed to say I was pretty long in the tooth before I realised what I read as Arkansas was what I heard as Arkansaw on TV/movies/news. Still... Leicester, Gloucester, Towcester, Worcestershire sauce, Edinburgh ...
Can saw is a lot closer to the original native pronunciation, or so I've heard.
Sooner or later, I just know someone is gonna wander in here and school me on geography, history, and linguistics in a single comment. I really do look forward to the explanation actually. Like how norteno reminds me of oompa/polka music because at one time German Immigrants came to Northern Mexico. Norteno is awesome, by the way. So is zydeco. Anyone who says otherwise probably listens to Chris Gaines unironically.