America! Land of free sex?
Write your answers to other countries (or continents) named after a person here!
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Write your answers to other countries (or continents) named after a person here!
There Are 73 Comments for “America! Land of free sex?”
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Don’t know if that scarf is working for you … but it does highlight certain aspects =] I’d like to see a style competition between you and hotforprofits.
It’s not just the message, but how it is written, so the reader may connect their emotions that makes the difference.
That’s remarkable, considering how highly praised the Native Americans are by some of us (Americans I mean).
Is it possible the generally recognised story of the origin of the name for “America” is false?
According to info below (not cross checked in any way), it is likely that America was actually named after “Richard Amerike” - a patron of Cabot.
Not only that, but it’s likely that the Stars and Stripes flag design is based upon Richard Amerike’s coat of arms.
[The Naming of America - Richard Amerike]
snips …
When Cabot’s voyage of discovery was proposed, Amerike donated more money than anyone else to funding the construction of the ship.
..it is also probable that, as the chief sponsor of the Matthew’s voyage, and with Cabot’s wife and children then living, at his instigation, in a house belonging to a close friend, Amerike sought reward for his patronage by asking that any new-found lands should be named after him.
Since the flag of the United States of America is based on the design of Amerike’s coat of arms, it is more than probable that its origins lie with Amerike and not with George Washington, whose family also bore arms of the Stars and Stripes. According to the American Flag Research Centre in Massachusetts the heraldic origin of the American flag is not positively known; archives in the British Library confirm that the Stars and Stripes was the coat of arms of the Ap Merike family - and that they pre-date Washington’s connection with the continent by 300 years.
a brief rough outline of this info is on this video clip of part of an episode of QI:
5:20 into [Qi - Series 3 - Episode 8 (part 3)]
Hi mijj, I concur with everything you say, but I might rewrite the following phrase: “… origin of the name for “America” is false?”
What I might say instead is this: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”.
I’ve done a lot of research into this area some years ago, and forgive me for not having my notes in front of me, and I do concur with what you say. From what I remember, John Cabot landed on the mainland what we now call America, about two weeks before Columbus.
John Cabot should have been given credit for discovering America, but as it turns out, political expediency and persuasion and other underhanded acts caused history to take some interesting turns. How does it go, “The winners of wars and B.S. get to write the history books”.
I think there are countless other cases where this is so. I understand that the Germans had the radio before Marconi, but Marconi is recognized as the inventor of the radio. On and on it goes.
History can be cruel sometimes as it is not always the first act that gets recognition, but he who acts first to get recognized.
Perhaps, Marnia can offer her perspective as well.
yes .. very often .. it’s a simplified history for the masses.
and it doesnt stop there.
i think in any field of learning there’s the simplified version for the masses where facts are clear, simple and in no doubt.
e.g. in physics, there’s the big bang theory .. the version for the masses is that this is the established and agreed theory for the origin of the universe. Whereas, in actual fact, evidence to support this theory is thin, and there’s lots of theories to explain other *actual* phenomena which would have to be abandoned in order for the big bang theory to tie up. … etc etc.
I think really .. it’s about giving the impression to the masses that those authorities of learning are almost god-like in their command of information. .. not that i doubt this is true in M’s case.
Columbia or Colombia, a Latin American country located at the northern part of South America… what is funny about that, is that Colombia was named after Christopher Columbus, but America wasn’t .
(Oh, and here women didn’t have sex with everybody, they were a little bit more, uh… monogamous.)
how about the continent Africa, or is that i bit too difficult???
Marina,
Dans ce clip, tes épaules et tes bras sont super. Ils paraient élégants parce que bien définis—ce qui est exquis. Je te fais ces compliments parce que je veux que tu saches que j’apprécie les détails de tous ce que tu fais pour te rendre plus séduisante. Ta coiffure est aussi extra.
CANADA!KA-NA-TAActually when Canada was discovered the settlers were told by the native Indians that they teepees were called KANATA. The settlers were actually asking what the land/country was called. They mistakenly thought it was Kannada and thus came the name Canada!;)
I know I know you were talking about America, but you should doa segment about Canada Marina
Please
Al-Idrisi’s books ‘Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq,’(The Delight of Him Who Desires to Journey Through The Climates);’Rawd-Unnas wa-Nuzhat al-Nafs’ (Pleasure of Men and Delight of Souls)
salam alikoum,it’s illogical to name a continent after a first name, here’s my contribution:AL-IDRISI (Dreses),He is also known by his short name Al-Sharif Al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi,was born in 1099 C.E. in Ceuta, Spain.Al-Idrisi is best known in the West as a geographer, who made a globe of silver sphere weighing 400 kilograms for King Roger II of Sicily, he mentioned a name of a continent located beyond Atlantic ocean “Al Mariqa” , in arabic means the farthest.Al Mariqa becomes America
Dear teacher
Yes, another mystery solved by the trusty &. Thank you. A very interesting and incredible story.
Well, it is a little bit late but Colombia in South America.
Amicalement
Don Felipe Gonzales
Was Amerigo Vespucci the cousin of Simonetta Vespucci, the concubine of Lorenzo Medici and the model for Botticelli’s masterpiece, “Venus Rising from the Sea” (you know- the one on the seashell)? That would be interesting, since both Vespuccis hold fame due to a sexual connotation.
Also, even with your explanation - why isn’t America called “Vespucciland”?
( Note - I just have to comment on how much I enjoy your wonderful sense of humor. You crack me up! Like the “abracadabra” video where you show the little clip of you dancing in a bikini - very nice, by the way - then comment “Oh my god! It works!”. I laughed till I cried. How did you know that’s what we were all wishing for? )
My dear Marina,
Rhodesia, was named after, I believe his first name, is Cecial Rhodes; ” the Rhoades Scholers” which was created by him, and today, we have Idiots, running around, thinking they are educated; getting themselves and everyone else in trouble, one of the greatest examples is Bill Clinton.
Russia has Ivan the terrible, well America, has Bill the Terrible.
My Dear Marina,
I forgot Bills, Coat of Arms.
I agree and look at what it is today, Zimbabwe.
This is a peculiarly boring and monotonous comment thread given the subject matter — free sex.
Is there some particular reason why a woman who sleeps around is “equal”? That sounds like a bunch of 21st century wishful thinking to me.
Europe is named after Europa a woman in Greek mythology who was abducted by Zeus. According to Homer she was a mythical Queen of Crete. See this link for more details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe
According to Josephus, Africa was derived from Epher a grandson of Abraham, although this etymology is probably incorrect. The ancient Greeks seemed to think that Asia was named after the wife of Prometheus, although again this folk etymology is probably erroneous. Wikipedia has more details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia
In Australia, the state of Victoria is named for Queen Victoria, and Adelaide, capital of South Australia, is named for Queen Adelaide, consort of William IV (if I recall correctly).
Will your report card be nice and sexy?
Great Britain was named after Herbie Great Britain, a 4th century gay florist.
I thought that he was Herbie “The Great” Britain. Besides being a florist he was also known around the land as “The Flatulent Flautist”.
I found this: Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia (an african country), was named after James Monroe, president of the United States
Bermuda was named after Juan De Bermudez
China was named after Quin Shi Huang
Israel was named after Jacob
The Cook Islands were name after Captain James Cook
Bolivia was named after Simon Bolivar
and last but not least Saudi Arabia was named after Muhammed Bin Saud
these are the ones i know
Would’t it be harder to name a country, or place or even street thats not named after somebody?
now that you mention it there is a street in Damascus that is called ‘Straight’ (in Arabic of course) since it is unusually straight for a street in Damascus. so it would not be named after someone. but then there is my favorite not-named-after-a-person-street, Vienna’s Ringstrasse. i assure you it is named that because it runs in a circle or ring and not because it was named after a writer friend of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Come to think of it…
Main St. was named after John Q. Main
1st St. was named after John Q. 1st
2nd St. was named after John Q. 2nd
Sorry… those were just terrible.
But seriously there’s actually a lot:
Australia is from australis “southern,” from auster “south wind”.
Antartica is obvious.
Greenland and Iceland
Most of South America
Canada
Actually, all of the names of these places are descriptions of them.
Such as Canada from the word kanata, which in Huron (an Iroquoian language of eastern Canada) meant “village.”
Or how about Chicago which was first recorded as Chigagou, an Algonquian word meaning “onion field.”
Sorry about going on and on about this. I suffer from etymological desires!
David
Liechtenstein is named after then Liechtenstein dynasty,
whats with switzerland??
where does this name come from, because its also called in latin confederation helvetica.
yves
Britain is named after King Brutus from Trijan heritage, who was the son of King Silvius & the grandson of Ascanius & the great great grandson of King Aeneas. After the loss of the Trojan war, Ascanius’s goal was to create a new Troy. After he founded Alba on the Tiber river, came Brutus then leaving Italy (banished for unknowingly killing his parents) Brutus unites with Trojan exiles & setteled on an island north of Gaul (France) & named it Britain. Of course there’s a great deal of events that happend in between the lives of the Great-great grand father Aeneas & Brutus…we just dont have time for it.
Lee
How many are there? Wow… so many!
The obvious first one is Columbia after Christopher Columbus.
From there the list goes on and on. How about:
Saudi Arabia - Muhammad bin Saud
How about all the saints:
Saint Helena - Saint Helena
Saint Kitts and Nevis - Saint Christopher
Saint Lucia - Saint Lucy
Saint Pierre and Miquelon - Saint Peter
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Saint Vincent of Saragossa
San Marino - Saint Marinus
S
notice in all the countries you listed, why does “the philippines” have the word “the” and the other country with “the” is “the united states of america.”
Why is that?
Well they call saudi arabia “the kingdom” but that’s entirely different.
This is because the Phillippines are an archipelagic nation which comprises 7,107 islands. They were formerly called the Philippine Republic (still “the”). I would have to say that “the” refers to a plural such as “The Soviet Union”. Of course this doesn’t work with UAE (United Arab Emirates). Go figure!
As far as “the Kingdom” is concerned… good flick!
PS… I guess this theory doesn’t lend itself to all of the other archipelagos I listed! So rather than baffle you with my BS any further I should just cop to the fact that I wrote it as I think of it. That is to say that I think of it as THE Phillippines!!
David
In response to Kirby Harrison about Columbus.
Yes you can say that you have indeed “discovered” or more appropriately “learned something new”. But you cannot claim that you alone have discovered it or anyone else before you has not. Therefore Columbus did not discover north America he simply learned of its location.
Lee.
Hope you didn’t get a lot of negative feedback to your mention that Columbus “discovered” America. Some of the politically correct crowd will deny this, asking with much indignantion how he could have “discovered” a land that had already been “discovered” by its indigenous peoples. My response to that is simple. Several times a week, I “discover” the origin and/or meaning of a new word from my trusty teacher hotforwords. The fact that hotforwords and thousands, perhaps millions, of people had already discovered this origin and/or meaning does not negate the fact that I have now “discovered” it.
Britain - derivative of Brutus’ Land where “-tan” meant “-land”
Europe for Europa of Greek mythology fame.
Many US states like Pennsylvania, Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, Washington
actually an official name (recognized in its constitution) of the country India is Bharat. Bharat is named after Bharata a legendary early king.
Thank you Mattgoffriller, I didn’t know that! I shall read up more on India and King Bharat. I would so love to go there one day.
Best, matalexwolf
glad you were amused. i would also like to visit India some time. next trip abroad looks more like Greece and Italy.
cheers
Loved the homework Marina and Tut! Naughty America also!
Hmmm, so got thinking…..
Some of the places I’ve been too:-
Australia,
Alice Springs, Sir Charles Todd
Brisbane, Sir Thomas Brisbane
Darwin, Charles Darwin
Mackay, John Mackey
Melbourne, William Lamb, Lord Melbourne.
Kingston Jamacia, King William 3rd of England
New Zealand,
Wellington, The Duke of Wellington
UK
Telford, Sir Thomas Telford
Ormskirk, Orme, Viking Chief dude.
France,
Ferney Voltaire, Voltaire
Couldn’t find much relating to Asia however Cambodia for example, is from the meaning ‘of dark skin’, plus many more through out Asia but, no names! Such is the amazingly rich history of the East……….
…and some places I would love to go to:-
Papa New Guinea,
Port Moresby, Sir Fairfax Moresby
Panama,
Colon, Christopher Columbus
Mauritius,
Port Louis, Louis XV of France
India,
Bodh Gaya, Buddha
Russia,
Gagarin, Yury Gagarin
Pushkin, Aleksandr Pushkin
Lomonostov, Mikhail Lermontov
Soul partner, Marina
Hong Kong,
Belcher Bay, Edward Belcher
Guyana,
Georgetown, King George 3rd
Egypt,
Alexandria, Alexander the Great
Croatia,
Karlovac, Charles 2nd of Austria
Canada,
Victoriaville Qubec
Victoria, British Columbia
Regina, Saskatchewan, by, The Queen Victoria.
Vancouver - Cpt. George Vancouver
Bermuda,
Hamilton, Henry Hamilton
Barbados,
Speightstown, William Speight.
and not to forget, the US of A
Austin, Texas - Stephen F Austin
San Jose, Saint Joseph.
Thanx Marina, looking forward to more Brain Candy!
I would say that “Nicaragua” comes from the name of the speaking tribe ( Nicarao ) which inhabited the shores of Lago de Nicaragua !
Am I right?
Ahhh I think you are all overlooking the most obvious one. Marinastasia, which since the unification of Krasota and Umnaya in 2007 became the Lexicon Republic. A rich and productive country know for it’s friendly educated people and breathtaking mountainous features. A country well worth visiting, though I am told emigration is tough
Ahhh yes… Marinastasia! Classic, my friend. A visa is indeed in order! Such wonderous mountainous regions!!
David
Scotland is supposedly named after an Egyptian Princess named Scota who some believe settled there after fleeing Egypt, though there’s little in recorded history to prove it.
I never get to say this stuff first but… Solomon Islands I was also thinking of Monrovia but after looking it up it’s a city not a country :p
OK, I’m putting in Bolivia(Simon Bolivar) which now seems too easy. In my defense, I put it in about 24 hours ago at the hotforwords site because this com
ment area wasn’t yet available. Not sour grapes, just want my report card.
Thanks for another 5 star lesson.
Your Faithful Student
Aw, all the easy ones are taken. How about the Marshall Islands, named for British Captain John Marshall.
Yep - just confirmed about St. Francis of Assisi from Wikipedia:
Spanish colonists first settled in northern New Mexico in 1598. Don Juan de O
OK, I know we are supposed to be naming countries or continents, but a few have listed cities, so here is one more — Santa Fe, as in the State of New Mexico, USA is a reference to St. Francis. I assume this is Saint Francis of Assisi …
North and south AMERICA
Bermuda was named after Juan de Berm
Cook Island after captain James Cook
Israel after Jacob’s name was changed to father a nation.
Saudi Arabia, Israel
The country of Scotland has a legend called the “Scotichronicon”. The legend goes to tell of a Greek prince named Gaythelos, who was banished from Greece. Him and his Egyptian wife named Scota moved and settled in Spain. Their son Hiber founded the island of Ireland, and called Scotland, ‘Scotia’ after his mother.
The Gaelic language comes from the Greek prince Gaythelos, which all say ‘Scotti’.
The word Greek comes form the Latin Graecus that comes from the Greek word Graikos. ‘Graeci’ was the original name for the Greek people (’g’ pronounced as ‘y’ in the word ‘yea’!). Graikos is the name of an 8th century BC Boeotian tribe. The new name for Greece, ‘Hellas’ came during the new starting Christian movement who called them ‘heathens’ as others in turn were called ‘barbarians’. In Greek, ‘Hellas’ means the English word ‘Greek’.
In some kind of sense, I still don’t understand why the word ‘Hellas’ means ‘Greek’,
because can you just not say ‘Graeci’ too?
The Solomon Islands were named after King Solomon.
Hmmmm.
Well, I knew Bolivia, Washington, Georgia, Virginia, New York, after the Duke of York. Carolina, north and south. El Salvador is ‘our Savior’ which may refer to Christ, but is not a true eponym. The Bering straights and sea. St. Petersburg, both in Florida and in Russia.
Maryland was named after Queen Mary. Pennsylvania is ‘Penn’s woods’, named after William Penn.
Pittsburg was also named after a guy, but I am fuzzier on it.
Pittsburgh was named after William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, an English statesman.
ooh..and St. Lucia is named after St. Lucy
Columbia - Named after Christopher Columbus (See..at least he got 1 country)
The country of Saint Helena was named after, believe it or not, Saint Helena.
I hope I’ll get an A+++ for linking the list
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_nam ed_after_people
Hope I don’t spoil it all
Israel was another name for the patriarch Jacob. And the Philippines were named for King Philip II of Spain.
Well, Rome was named after the legend of Romulus and Remus. Then there’s Alexandria, named for Alexander the Great.
El Salvador… named for Jesus Christ… the Savior…
Nicaragua… I believe Nica was a native leader, and agua is obviously water. I believe that Nicaraqua essentially means Nica’s water, which refers to lake Nicaragua… so like Chad, it is named for a lake, and the lake’s name is derived in part from a person’s name.
I believe part of Rwanda and Zimbabwe used to form the state of Rhodesia… that was named for Cecil Rhodes… It no longer exists as a state.
Of course the Roman empire was ostensibly named after one of the fabled brothers, Romulus and Remus. Guess which one?
Lots of city names are eponyms…
Washinton
Paris
Rome
Jacksonville
Stalingrad
Leningrad
Ekatarinburg
Ho Chi Minh (Saigon)
San Francisco
San Diego
San Jose
St. Paul
etc.
I had said Bolivia for Simon Bolivar first on youtube!
Ok… so I have a few more…
Bolivia … named for Simon Bolivar.
Tasmania was named after Abel Tasman, Colombia was named after Christopher Colombus.
That’s all I can think of right now
Keep it up! =D
China was named for Qin Shi Huang who was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 247 BCE to 221 BCE (officially still under the Zhou Dynasty), and then the first emperor of a unified China from 221 BCE to 210 BCE.
The Republic of Chad is named after Lake Chad or Lac Tchad in French