way back when, around the time the northwest was being formally organized, some rep from kentucky proposed ‘washington’ as an alternative to what it would have been, ‘columbia’ (for the river), because ‘columbia’ was part of the name of the nation’s capital. the absolute moron had no brain cells left over to process the fact that ‘washington’ was also a conflicting and confusing name for a state for the same fucking reason… but congress jumped on board the idea of naming a territory (and what would become a state) after the first president.
Both need better names tbh, but Washington DC is worse. Terrible name.
and how the state got the name is worse yet…
way back when, around the time the northwest was being formally organized, some rep from kentucky proposed ‘washington’ as an alternative to what it would have been, ‘columbia’ (for the river), because ‘columbia’ was part of the name of the nation’s capital. the absolute moron had no brain cells left over to process the fact that ‘washington’ was also a conflicting and confusing name for a state for the same fucking reason… but congress jumped on board the idea of naming a territory (and what would become a state) after the first president.
Damn, that’s beyond stupid. That’s like saying I don’t want to name my kid John because it’s Trump’s middle name, so I’ll name him Donald.
Or worse, I don’t want to name him Donald cause that’s Trump’s first name, so I’ll name him Trump
I agree it’s a terrible name, but honestly I think it’s worse to give a state the same name as your existing capital