DODDS-Europe drops 'American' from official school names

The Stars and Stripes ^ | Saturday, August 26, 2006 | Scott Schonauer and Sandra Jontz

[xzins]

Our kids used to call their school "BK."

In sports, it was the name of the community....BK, Ramstein, Hohenfels, Giessen, etc. Not one living soul put the American in there. After all, it was sort of obvious.

I don't see this as any big deal.

[lentulusgracchus]

Thanks for the reply.

Times change, and we really don't need Fort Osage anymore (or, some people say, Fort Drum in upstate New York -- the Hurons have been remarkably quiet for about 200 years now!).

But there's no reason to go along with the Pee Cee Poleece and drop "Fort" from everything. The oldest maps I have of the U.S. as a whole are dated 1981, and already Fort Stockton, Calif., had been renamed "Stockton" -- but I think people will know how to direct you if you ask for Fort Stockton. Ditto Leavenworth, Kansas. But Fort Smith, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Wayne, and Fort Collins all have their old names undisturbed, so I wouldn't make too much of it. Floridians call Fort Lauderdale just "Lauderdale" for short, and truck drivers call Fort Smith "Snuffy Smith," but that's just humor.

In the time of the Emperor Justinian, one of his legions, the Fifth Legion Macedonica, had been quartered on the same fortress in Romania for over five hundred years, deployed on that posting by Augustus himself -- and they still spoke Latin. Eventually the post and the legion passed into history, but they had a good career -- and they still hold the world record for an organizational posting.

And they left children -- the Romanians.

[DilJective]

excellent points and history lessons. I've been to Bucaresti and have noted that their language is (seemingly) the truest form of Latin- over the Italians. If my public schooling had been better, or I'd paid more attention, I'd have known "stuff" like that. I've also been to Macedonia and many other former east-bloc countries - all courtesy of my employer. I can't say that I'm sorry things changed over there, but as a soldier here, it makes me a little sad to see things change so rapidly and moreover, deliberately. As far as Fort Devens is concerned, most New Englanders still refer to it as a Fort, but the politicians forced the name change. For over five years the Route 2 signs for Fort Devens had green tape over the "Fort" until they changed the signs last year. And, still a few thousand soldiers come to Fort Devens to train.

Have a great night!