Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 11:46:21 -0500

From: ALICE FABER faber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HASKINS.YALE.EDU

Subject: PC in the NY Times



Well, Larry's probably beaten me to this, but this morning's New York Times

has an article about "Negro" in place names in the New York area. Apparently

there is a "Negro Brook" in northern New Jersey, and a local resident (White,

btw) wants to change the name, on grounds of its offensiveness. According the

the article, many of the place names in the NY area (and presumably elsewhere)

with "Negro" in their name were originally "Nigger X", and in the 1960's the

US Geological Service (or some other gov't agency-I don't have the article in

front of me) decreed that these should henceforward be "Negro X", and maps

were adjusted accordingly, even if local usage hasn't always. I couldn't tell

from the article whether the "Negro X" usage was offending people, or whether

it was the still-preserved "Nigger X".



Alice Faber

Faber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]haskins.yale.edu