Illinois governor declares Lake Michigan is now Lake Illinois

There has also been no word on if the state of Indiana was consulted.
Glad to see the reporter having some fun with this.
- No mention of Ohio. Like it should be.

Absolutely top notch bit of trolling.

This is great. Maybe officials from all over will rename places had make google add all the different names as per their policy. Imagine taking an interstate road trip and having place names keep changing on google maps as you cross state lines.
- I can’t wait to hear UK announce some changes to their official maps.
  Does New England sound better than Virginia? How about New Albion?
  
  I'll take New Albion. It's time for a change. England had their turn.
- If Canada renames Lake Michigan/Illinois to Lake Ontario 2: Electric Boogaloo, would Google label it as Lake Michigan (Lake Illinois (Lake Ontario 2: Electric Boogaloo))? What if Québec wants to spread some French to it too?
  Edit: updated Lake Manitoba to Lake Ontario 2 because it's funnier

To the people reporting this: Yes, it's a prank by the governor. But he really did so it, even as a prank, and the news covered it. So the story can stay.

The proclamation has been forwarded to Google to ensure the world’s maps reflect this momentous change
😘👌😆

In other news, Lake Erie is still haunted by ghost pirates that nobody cares about.
- I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of this Ohio Buckeyes championship!!!
  
  It’s those iron pirates again….
- Poor guys. 🥲
- Ugh, classic whataboutism. You're probably the commenter in every great lakes thread saying, "bUt whAT AbOuT thE laKE eRiE gHOSt PiRatEs?"
  People can care about Lake Michigan and Lake Erie ghost pirates at the same time--this post just isn't the time and place to center them in the conversation.
- The tragedy of the Edmund Fitzgerald -shakes head-

And South Dakota has declared North Dakota to be North South Dakota
- In response, North Dakota has challenged South Dakota to a duel. If North Dakota wins, both states will be combined into The state of 'Dakota'.
  
  If North Dakota wins, both states will be combined into The state of ‘North Dakota’.
  And Nebraska will be renamed South Dakota. Then the process repeats. Until the entire earth is Dakota.
  
  Absolute Unit
- Naah. There is only one real Dakota and the other is the imposter that needs to change the name.
  
  Fanning?

UK declares US to be called "United Colonies"
- "The Sort of United Colonies Kingdom" or The SUCK
- The "Revolting Colonies".

California should declare Lake Tahoe to be called Tahoe Tahoe.
- Use this opportunity to retake the Baja Peninsula.
  
  Use this opportunity to retake ~~the Baja Peninsula~~ Alta California.
- Lake on California side
  Tahoe on Nevada side
  (It’ll look right on certain maps)
- Well the same logic that makes it the golf of America makes it the Californian Ocean.
  All faulty logic, but from their perspective, it should be the same

Idaho is now YOUdaho
- Uranus is now OURanus.
  
  Always has been.
  
  Uranus Mychoice

In all seriousness, language and word choice are a very big part of propaganda and influence. It's not an accident that we are discussing "death tax" instead of "inheritance tax", or that you see reports of "looters" vs "survivors/scavengers".
- So true. We're manipulated daily through the power of words... what to buy/where to buy it, what to wear or eat, who to vote and not vote for, what to think and believe, how to live, now how to die even, etc. We need to open our ears more and really listen to what's being told to us.
  
  Something I found very eye-opening was the Wikipedia editing guidelines/style guide. Specifically, they had (have?) section on weasel words.
  Once you see these types of manipulations laid out, you start to see them everywhere.

As a Michigander I declare Illinois is now South Michigan
- Ohio is Underland
- As a fellow statesman, I would like to propose that we ready ourselves for war. Surely we can take Illinois of all places, right? Maybe we can get a Lower peninsula to go with our upper, seems like that's what happens when we get really pissed up here.

We the Australians shall invade the USA and reclaim it for the crown. Hencforth it shall be known as "New Australia".
- You could just call it New Australia anyway. Double up and change your maps. Apparently nothing stops you
  
  I should send an email to the prime minister. Its easy to guess as it just follows the pattern of all the other members.
- I quite like the name "Kraft Vegemite^TM presents New Australia".
  
  Powered by Bunnings
- I'm okay with this.
- Please do this.
  
  U don't get our free healthcare tho
- Whatever happened to Ameristralia? Wasn’t that a thing back on The Old Site for a while?
- Nah get the Dutch to retake it and rechristen us as Niewe Amsterdam. I want my coffeeshop weed.

Wait, we can just declare shit? This changes everything.
- Shut up, ~~Thteven~~ Thefartographer II! I declare "shit"
  SHIT!

- The World looking at the US: .... HWUATTTTT??!!!

This is the funniest shit I've read today
- Honestly these micro-dick edge lords renaming things has been a pleasant diversion over the last few weeks.

- Are you using the center point by surface area instead of the center point by mass!?! 🤮🤮🤮

The Atlantic ocean is now "the moat".
- "The Pacific" is now "NordVPN Presents: The Pacific"

Interesting, the lake's name was changed from Illinois to Michigan around 1720. Time to take it back! https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-ee8c-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

I declare AOC to be Queen AOC.
- No, just no..
  
  Too late, they declared it.

Lake Erie will become Lake LeBron.

For the record, I do delare, that the Best Lake be named for the Best State. So now, hence forth and forever, Lake Superior shall be known as Lake Minnesota.
And Canadians, if you have a problem with that, shoulda renamed it faster.
- We already did — it’s named after Canada. Why did you think it was called Lake Superior?
  
  Careful, we won't have burn units here in the US for much longer.
  
  you can't just un-rename something I just renamed like that! that's not allowed- it's against the rules I just made up!
  (also... Canada isn't a state/province... do you really want BC getting in on this?)
- And I declare my toilet as "Baby Ruth presents: The Northern South Texas Community Pool for Doodoos, Nudity, Lemmy, and Dead Legs"
  
  I mean, it's your toilet.... call it what you want... but "the baby ruth presents: the Northern South Texas Community Pool for Doodoos, Nudity, Lemmy, and Dead legs" might be a little unwieldly....

West Virginia has just declared itself Virginia, Mountain High.

honestly as a non-American, this would unironically make things less confusing: the largest city on that lake is Chicago and I always have to consciously remember "that city is in Illinois, but the lake it is on is called Lake Michigan".
- Illinois has a pretty small coastline with it though. Michigan and Wisconsin completely dwarf Illinois's coast on the lake (and Michigan by a lot)
  
  Yup, I realize that too when looking at a map of it. Still, the only place on that lake I can name off the top of my head is Chicago and several times in my life already, my brain already went "and that's on Lake Michigan, so it's in Michiga– no, riiiiiight, it's in Illinois".

If you want to name the lake after a great state from America
You should call it
Lake Of Insanity
- Right at the foot of
  The Cliffs of Insanity.
  
  Watch out for the shrieking eels
  
  To the South West of the Dick of Insanity

Do you think if the major cities started calling the interstates the blue lines it could fight congestion?
If you want to find a blue city, follow an interstate, a red one, hop off.

I 100% did not think this was a joke.
- What do you mean? This is "not the onion". Didn't you see the video from the governor? Its all very serious.

I swear there was an episode with a similar argument in The Twilight Zone.

Lake removedagain

I feel in reaction Indiana will rename Michigan City, Michigan will reclaim the Toledo strip, and Ohio will Ohio.
- Ohio will Ohio
  You mean rename it after another famous place, but misspell/mispronounce it?
- And Hell, Michigan stays the same I assume.
  
  Hell is frozen right now, so it's hard to say what's underneath all that snow.

SHIT!

Lake Of Insanity

The Cliffs of Insanity.