Summary

Rep. Dan Crenshaw criticized Apple Maps for not renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, as mandated by Trump’s recent executive order titled “Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness.”

Crenshaw’s complaint reflects broader conservative frustration, as tech platforms and the global community continue to use the original name.

Critics compare the move to past nationalist gestures like renaming french fries “freedom fries,” accusing conservatives of embracing identity politics and culture wars despite their political dominance.

The name change is unlikely to gain international traction.

  • AwesomeLowlander@sopuli.xyz
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    2 hours ago

    Fuck, I honestly thought this was the Onion. Somebody get me out of this timeline. I withdraw consent for this simulation!

  • friend_of_satan@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    Sorry if this has been asked elsewhere, but who even has the legal right to rename the gulf? It doesn’t belong to USA, right? So we can’t just rename it, right? If we did, everybody else in the world would keep calling it The Gulf of Mexico, right?

    • vin@lemmynsfw.com
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      2 hours ago

      Every sovereign state can publish maps require everyone to use it as reference for further publication in its own territory. Hence you’ll see different maps on Google for different regions. There’s a UN committee to coordinate these and also to publish international water area names.

    • slingstone@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Thank you for your service, sir/madam. You’re already a better executive than some presidents I can think of, thinking of what the people want.

      • Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        As the first matter of business I need to immediately address, my resignation. No one man is equipped to weild the power of the lemexcutive for much longer than I have.

        Farewell lemmings. Until we shit post together again.

        • slingstone@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          Good night, sweet prince(ss)! Though your reign in this (lemmy.) world was short, your reign in our hearts will last at least a few more minutes!

  • bobagem@sh.itjust.works
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    5 hours ago

    Who’s gonna tell him?

    The earliest known use of the name America dates to April 25, 1507, when it was applied to what is now known as South America. It is generally accepted that the name derives from Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer, who explored the new continents in the following years on behalf of Spain and Portugal, with the name given by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_of_the_Americas

    • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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      3 hours ago

      Waldseemüller

      It’s a good thing the continent wasn’t named after him instead!

      Then again, having a swim in the Gulf of Waldseemüller sounds kind of nice.

  • JaggedRobotPubes@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    There is no gulf with that name anywhere in the world.

    You’ll have to go back and figure out what you mean. Feel free to let us know once you find the name of a real gulf.

      • sgtgig@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        Executive Orders are closer to press releases than they are to law. They can say pretty much anything - whether those things are enforceable or even consistent with reality is up to the courts.

      • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        Executive Orders are more like a corporate memo to the government. It’s not a law passed by congress, but it can direct the government in how to administer existing laws or regulations.

  • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org
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    9 hours ago

    Anyone else remember “freedom fries”? That’s what we were supposed to call french fries when conservatives were upset that the French were not supporting the US invasion of Iraq.

      • olympicyes@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        Honestly that makes more sense than Gulf of America because at least it is a bit more descriptive. Looking forward to Mexico renaming Gulf of California next.

  • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Wait, that really happened? I thought the gulf of Mexico renamed shit was just memeing. Google maps still shows the proper name instead of the tantrum name.

      • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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        7 hours ago

        There is no legal mechanism to compel private companies to use the new name.

        There is also no legal mechanism to require any other country on the planet to pay attention to Trump’s stupid and pointless attempt at renaming it.

      • Blackmist
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        8 hours ago

        If anything they’ll just show the new name to people in the US.

        Google Maps does a lot of regional fuckery to comply with local lunatics. Indians see Kashmir as part of India, for example.

        • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
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          8 hours ago

          I mean, that’s every multinational company.

          My job has international offices and during stand-ups, we get things like “Hey EU needs this thing. So figure it out engineers.” And we do the bare minimum to meet the requirements because bro I’m just trying to code and make a paycheck.

          • Blackmist
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            8 hours ago

            Nope.

            I do vaguely remember seeing the bonkers border ceremony in a Michael Palin travel show from about 30 years ago. Seemed competitive, yet oddly friendly.

            • bomibantai@lemmy.world
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              7 hours ago

              Not familiar with the show but that was definitely the Atari border ceremony at wagah in Amritsar, Punjab and not Kashmir.

              Either way, don’t try to equate anything happening near Kashmir to what is happening here. Those are land borders with people living on either side with very real tangible “everyday” problems to whatever pax Americana you have going on in the US.

    • perviouslyiner@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      It will be interesting to see what openstreetmap do - they have an “on the ground principle” that says to look at what the local signs say when naming something, but the data is tagged with a load of references to NOAA pages on historical treaties that the US signed (which obviously used the normal name for that area)

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      I thought the gulf of Mexico renamed shit was just memeing.

      I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing a lot of “I didn’t think he would really do ____” in the coming weeks and months.

      I was under no such illusions. He has no one to stop him this time around.

      • wanderingmagus@lemm.ee
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        4 hours ago

        I mean, in this case, he has the rest of the English-speaking world to stop him with stupid renaming. If everyone just refuses to call it anything other than the Gulf of Mexico, it’s not like he can do anything about it, especially if they’re outside of the US.

    • umbraroze@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      I thought “we’ll build a wall and have Mexico pay for it” was just shit-talking, too.

      Trump has the habit of saying shit like this. His opponents will say “Oh god the cringe, it hurts”. His supporters will say “Oh shit, I didn’t think that we have to actually implement this? This will cause all sorts of expensive problems.”

      • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        To be fair, that was just shit talking. He may have started building the wall, but Mexico didn’t pay for it

  • callouscomic@lemm.ee
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    13 hours ago

    Ahem. Umm, conservatives are angry that others are not calling something what THEY want it to be called?

    Hmm. So… I just feel like… perhaps, there’s a similarity here. Some people… want to be referred to a specific way… but usually conservatives have a problem with that.

    • dellish@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      So, the Gulf of They/Them is what the rest of the world should call it? I can get behind that.

    • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
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      12 hours ago

      How about the rest of the world rename it to the “Gulf of Snowflakes” and see what America does

        • sangriaferret@sh.itjust.works
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          8 hours ago

          The three foot snow drift against my back door here in New Orleans would beg to differ.

          Tbf, nothing like that has ever happened here before. I wonder if any kind of change is causing this? Hmmm.

          • leadore@lemmy.world
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            6 hours ago

            What are the odds that a snowflake would rename the Gulf of Mexico and then it immediately actually snows on the Gulf of Mexico?!

            On a serious note, hope you all are doing OK down there and it will melt ASAP.

            • sangriaferret@sh.itjust.works
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              6 hours ago

              Thanks, I think everything will be alright if people just stay off the roads for a few days. We’re used to driving through water but not on ice.

    • exasperation@lemm.ee
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      11 hours ago

      That’s literally what the headline is. “Deadnaming” is a term for referring to transgender people by their previous names, rather than their current names.

  • danc4498@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Can the president unilaterally change the names of anything he wants? Seems like there at least needs to be a vote on this.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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      7 hours ago

      Can the president unilaterally change the names of anything he wants?

      Maybe for things inside his own country. Though the affected local governments may object.

      But for bodies of water that contain international waters, and that border other countries? Fuck no he doesn’t.

    • Blackmist
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      8 hours ago

      Sure. There’s no need for anybody else to pander to it though.

    • Weslee@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      That’s what an executive order is isn’t it? The pres just saying this is how something is without challenge

      • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        An executive order is just official instructions to a lower office on how they are to operate. They have no legal authority outside of that purpose. They are not laws. They do not apply to the public or other businesses.

        It’s the equivalent of a supervisor writing memo to the staff that the department break room should have tea instead of coffee. No one outside the company, or even the department, has to obey it