Carnes: A Gore by any other name
No, we will not, if I have any say whatsoever, rename the Gore Range to represent Al instead of the Irish lord.
Admittedly, it was a pretty funny suggestion in last week’s Daily (although it was actually suggested over a decade ago on this very page), but I don’t see much of a difference between a former bloviating politician from Jack Daniels country and a former Celtic nimrod, bloodthirsty, alcoholic hunter from Ireland.
But in this day and age, if some wish to change the name to no longer honor a wealthy drunk from over 150 years ago, I honestly don’t have a problem with it.
Granted, we also have the Gore Valley, Gore Canyon, Gore Pass, Gore Lake, Gore Creek, Gore Creek Drive, Gore Creek Properties, Gore Creek Place Condos, Main Gore Drive, Gourmet on Gore, Grill on the Gore, Gore Range Outfitters and who knows how many others over on the Summit County side (I only leave the Vail Valley when it’s absolutely necessary).
That could be a problem.
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Those involved will have to come up with another rhyme for “Restore the Gore,” and could the Vail Brewing Co. still have their tasty “Gore Creek IPA” or the Gore Range Brewery still even exist?
But what’s in a name, really?
Every so often we go through the inane “Vail Valley” versus “Eagle Valley” debate when someone shouts in all caps on social media, “Hey, I don’t see Vail Valley on any maps!”
I politely point out they need to use maps printed after the Nixon administration.
I have repeated a number of times on this page it should be painfully apparent that proper names can evolve over time to better fit cultural climates of the day. The Gore Valley became the Eagle Valley and then the east side became the Vail Valley.
No big deal.
I still refer to the Washington Football Team as the Redskins and every once in a while I say Peking when I’m thinking Beijing, but most adults know exactly what I mean, so some need to get off the high horses they feign to be riding every few years and stop pretending that the evolution of proper names is a disrespectful act towards their personal heritage.
Ever heard of Palmer Peak? It’s just southeast of Breckenridge and presumably not named after Walter Palmer, the notorious dentist who shot and killed “Cecil the lion” back in 2015. But then again, just driving from Breck to Alma could possibly cause an animal lover to be distracted by thinking of Cecil upon seeing Palmer Peak and careen down a thousand-foot cliff.
Should we rename it “Cecil Peak” just in case?
Let’s just change the Gore Range to something respectful of the Ute Indians (“Ute Range” would be fine) and return to focusing on who will be the host of “Jeopardy!” or whether or not Britney will ever truly be free and how Texas women can control their own bodies over a vaccine to help end a pandemic but not an unwanted pregnancy.
You know, the important stuff.
Richard Carnes, of Avon, writes weekly. He can be reached at poor@vail.net.
