I'm wearing green for St. Patrick's Day--and I have other motives too

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Mar 13, 2025

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, so remember to wear green on March 17 unless you want to get pinched.

A few days ago, it dawned on me that I no longer had any green shirts—I guess they ended up at Goodwill—and I needed to buy a new one. It arrived today. Like it? Makes a statement, doesn’t it?

You may notice the small print under the big, bold letters spelling GULF OF MEXICO. They say: ESTD. 1672. Not sure where that date came from. Best I can tell, people were calling it the Gulf of Mexico as early as the 1500s.

Let the record show that either of those dates was before there even was a United States of America.

Other bodies of water along our coast have similar histories. The Atlantic Ocean, named after Atlas of Greek mythology, got its name in the sixth century B.C. The Pacific Ocean—Mar Pacifico (meaning peaceful sea)—was so named by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1520. Also before there was a U.S.A.

So, who owns the names of the seas?

Best I can tell, nobody. The whole point of giving all these bodies of water names is so we can clearly communicate with one another about them. Changing their names just creates confusion. And it’s also rude.

What if the Brits decide to rename the Irish Sea the English Sea? I imagine there would be hard feelings about that, and questions raised about their pettiness.

I suppose the Philippines could rename the South China Sea the Manilla Sea—or something—if they were so inclined, but nobody else would go along with it. Certainly not China.

So, does that mean if you’re big enough—like China and the U.S.—you can push everybody else around? Isn’t that what we call bullying? Is that who we are now?

It will be interesting to see if this latest act of arrogance coming out of Washington will stick. Will the world adopt “Gulf of America” as the new moniker for the Gulf of Mexico?

I kind of doubt it. I certainly don’t plan to. I’ve lived along the Gulf of Mexico for much of my life. I like it. And I’ll be wearing my green Gulf of Mexico tee shirt this St. Patrick’s Day to prove it.

St. Paddy’s Day is only one of several celebrations on tap in the coming week. As I reported in my monthly newsletter and this week’s Essential News report in Florida Weekly, you can also mark your calendar for:

March 14. National Pi Day celebrates the endless “irrational” number 3.1415 etc. etc. etc. that’s crucial in mathematics to calculate anything circular. Like, as I note in my column, the orbit of Elon Musk’s Tesla that he shot into space.

March 14 is also a total lunar eclipse. Best viewing will be in the early morning hours.

March Madness begins March 18. So, get those college basketball brackets filled out.

There’s much more on these events and others in my latest column. You get access to it early right here because you are a Substack subscriber. Check it out:

ESSENTIAL NEWS in FLORIDA WEEKLY

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J.C. Bruce is a journalist and author of The Strange Files series of mysterious novels (available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, other online booksellers, and at selected libraries). He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and Florida. His latest novel, Strange Timing, was recently named Book of the Year in the Royal Palm Literary Awards where it also won Gold Medals in the Sci-Fi and Thriller categories. When he’s not writing, he’s in training for the World Underwater Ping-Pong Championships.