While Lake Chaubunagungamaug is indeed notable for having a full name that is the longest in all of North America, and the translation is quite ecological and refers to meeting in the middle, the folk translation replaces community with classism, replacing communalism with capitalism, and referring to segregation. Especially in terms of historical contexts, regarding race, sex, gender, class, sexual orientation, age, disability, origin, and all other dimensions of diversity, arbitrary segregation that does not exist for safety but only for control often separates people into binaries, as in “I fish on my side, you fish on your side, nobody fishes in the middle.” While the aforementioned translation is a folk translation, a more accurate translation could be “fishing place at the boundaries, neutral meeting grounds,” and the name is from the Nipmuc Algonquian tribe.
Tag: Segregation
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Hype for the Future 22A: The Longest Lake in North America
Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg is located entirely within the Town of Webster, Worcester County, Massachusetts, immediately to the north of the Connecticut line and nearby to the Rhode Island line as well. The folk translation is a definite allegory for social roles and for hierarchical norms, especially regarding the unfortunate realities of racism, sexism, classism, ableism, and additional forms of discrimination: “I fish on my side, you fish on your side, nobody fishes in the middle.” However, the more accurate translation regarding the middle of the lake is a translation that is not distorted by capitalism or other concerns.
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