“His Majesty then went on to explain that, now old age was creeping
upon him, he proposed to devote his remaining strength to bringing
about a keener sense of local patriotism in the various municipalities
of London. How few of them knew the legends of their own boroughs!
How many there were who had never heard of the true origin of the Wink
of Wandsworth! What a large proportion of the younger generation
in Chelsea neglected to perform the old Chelsea Chuff! Pimlico no
longer pumped the Pimlies. Battersea had forgotten the name of Blick.”

I would be appalled if the Feds attempted to do the same thing here Stateside. The Federal Government, however, has arrogated to itself the power to assign names to all geographic entities within the Republic. One day you may wake up and find that you live within “Administrative District Number 3″, and not in your beloved New York State.

The United States Board on Geographic Names is currently busy eliminating the politically incorrect name “Squaw” from our national gazetteer, under the false belief that this word means “prostitute” and not “woman”.