Saturday, February 10, 2007

How Do You Say "Oklahoma" in English?

We were pleased this week to see more opposition to the official English idea now being kicked around in the state legislature.

Former Tulsa mayor and current Oklahoma Secretary of State Susan Savage said this week that the bill is unnecessary and that it "diminishes cultures that are part of our history, present and future."

Several tribal leaders also attacked the measure, including Cherokee Chief Chad Smith. Smith told the Tulsa World that if the law been in effect during World War II the U.S. would have been with the services of the Native American code talkers, men whose native language skills helped save American lives.

As AltTulsa noted in an earlier post, official English implies much more that its supporters seem to know. The state's name, after all, is a Choctaw word. And many, many other cities, towns, rivers, and the like are in languages other than English.

If the bill becomes law, the state's highest point will be known as "Black Table." The river east of Tulsa will be the "Greengray."

But what does "Tulsa" mean in English?

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