The Joke’s On US

Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas – Stephen Colbert (b 1964) makes a lot of jokes. It’s his business. He looks at what’s going on in the world around us, and then, with comedic wisdom, tries to help us deal with it. Remember what he said back in 2010, when the BP Deepwater Horizon oil platform blew up and created one of the largest environmental disasters in world history? That platform was 41 miles off the coast of Louisiana in Gulf of Mexico waters. A massive response ensued to protect beaches, wetlands and estuaries from the relentlessly spreading oil. I remember how hard it was to watch the oil-drenched birds, the tar-streaked beaches, the fishermen’s boats sitting idle, the blaze that just wouldn’t go out. Stephen tackled the angst it caused with this comment: “I don’t think we can call it the Gulf of Mexico anymore. We broke it, we bought it. We need to create a Gulf of America fund to help pay for the cleanup.”

Stephen Holland (b 1955) is a politician who served as a Democrat in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1985 to 2020. In 2012 Stephen submitted a Bill to the Mississippi Legislature to change the name (on state documents) of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. In an interview with NPR at the time, he explained that the Mississippi GOP appeared to want to “push anything Mexican out of the state, so renaming the body of water would help with that cause.” His fellow legislators were irked with him for using humor to make his point.

Donald Trump (b 1946) is currently serving as the 47^th president of the United States. On January 7, 2025, before he was sworn in, he told reporters of one of his plans: “We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Gulf of America – what a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate. We’re going to change, because we do most of the work there, and it’s ours.”  On January 20, 2025, Donald signed Executive Order 14172 directing the interior secretary to adopt the name Gulf of America, specifying an area of the US continental shelf “extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba.” He declared February 9, 2025, to be “Gulf of America Day.”

The US Interior Department confirmed that US federal agencies would use the name Gulf of America from January 24. The executive order does not compel the use of the new name by non-federal agencies, private companies, or foreign entities.

Sundar Pichai (b 1972) is an Indian-born American business executive and since 2015 serves as chief executive officer (CEO) of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google. Part of his responsibilities include overseeing Google Maps. Sundar was one of the billionaires in attendance on Donald’s inauguration day.

On February 10, 2025, this announcement was made by Google: In the U.S., the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has officially updated “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America.” As we announced two weeks ago and consistent with our longstanding practices, we’ve begun rolling out changes to reflect this update. People using Maps in the U.S. will see “Gulf of America,” and people in Mexico will see “Gulf of Mexico.” Everyone else will see both names.

The names you see in the Maps app are based on your country location, which is determined by information from your phone’s operating system (e.g., iOS and Android), including your SIM, network, and locale. If you’re using Google Maps on the web, the names are based on the region you select in your Search settings or your device’s location, if you haven’t selected one. 

Life on Planet Earth Today

Things just got a whole lot more complicated, it seems. I don’t think these last two fellows are joking. I looked up the definitions of GULF. There are two.

1. Gulf as a noun (area): An area of sea surrounded on three sides by land
2. Gulf as a noun (difference): An important difference between two things or groups of people

Our #2 “gulfs” (differences) are growing like crazy! You know how someone elected to represent “the people” (like Miss America, with a sash and sweeping hand or a winner in the midst of a thousand-balloon-drop) vows to work towards “world peace” or “two chickens in every pot”? Donald and Sundar just pissed off most of the breathing world and made the US (that is “us”) look like we don’t care to be friends with folks in other countries. “High and mighty” comes to mind. Not a smidgen of humor involved.

I decided to gather some “Gulf of Mexico” facts and find out who named it in the first place.

The following details come directly from the trusty Wikipedia Gulf of Mexico site.

• Coordinates: 25°N 90°W
• River sources: Rio Grande, Mississippi River, Mobile River, Panuco River, Jamapa River, Pascagoula River, Tecolutla River, Usumacinta River, Apalachicola River
• Ocean/sea sources: Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea
• Basin countries: Cuba, Mexico, United States of America
• Width: 930 miles
• Surface area: 600,000 sq miles
• Average depth: 5,299 ft
• Deepest: 14,383 ft
• Settlements: Veracruz, Houston, New Orleans, Corpus Christi, Tampa, Havana, Southwest Florida, Mobile, Gulfport, Tampico, Key West, Cancún, Ciudad del Carmen, Coatzacoalcos, Panama City

The name “Gulf of Mexico” (Spanish: golfo de México; French: golphe du Mexique, later golfe du Mexique) first appeared on a world map in 1550 and a historical account in 1552. This name has been the most common name since the mid-17th century.

Although there is no formal protocol on the general naming of international waters, Gulf of Mexico is officially recognized by the International Hydrographic Organization, which seeks to standardize the names of international maritime features for certain purposes and counts all three countries adjacent to the gulf as member states.

As to my own personal experience with the Gulf of Mexico, I got my first sunburn and caught my first fish in Gulf of Mexico waters. So did my kids, and grands.

No executive order can change memories. Or have any effect on the size and value of a beautiful body of water that’s been around since plate tectonics created it 300 million years ago. But hey, Sundar, don’t mess with the maps. Over 2 billion people per month count on you for accuracy. Check it out: Donald’s executive order “does not compel the use of the new name by non-federal agencies, private companies, or foreign entities.” No joke.