Many words, when slightly changed, have very different meanings. Can you think of examples? One that got me thinking about this thread is the name of a town in Wisconsin, "cheese country," Fond du Lac. In French, it makes sense (Lakeside) but given the dairy connection, might it make more sense as Fond du Lactate?

Then there is Salida, California, a farming town, and, since salida is Spanish for "exit," does it follow that that's where the farm workers got off the bus? So where's the town of Entrada, where they got on

, asa. I used to pass through Fond du Lac each summer when driving to and from area of Wisconsin where I vacationed. I'll never think of it the same way again.

There are quite a few cities around here with names from the French, and Fond du Lac is one of the few whose that is pronounced more or less as the French would. Other cities-from-the-french, with anglicized pronunciations, are

• Des Plaines, Ill. ("des PLANES")
• Versailles and Marseilles, Ill. ("verSALES" and "marSALES")
• De Moines, Iowa ("de MOYNE")

The converse was done with a city near me named for a french settler, Mr. Oeilmette. It kept the the french pronunciation but altered the spelling to an english rendering of that pronunciation: "Wilmette".

Fond du Lac... I'll never think of it the same way again.
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And what do you think when you enter any one of the dozen Beavertons around the country?

There are many French names in the Pacific Northwest, such as Des Moines, Washington, Deschutes, Oregon, The Dalles, Oregon (OK, it should be Les Dalles, but it got changed) and there's some evidence that the name, Oregon, derives from the French, ouragan, (hurricane) since it can get pretty windy here at times, especially near the state capital :