this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
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Uranus is such a stupid name. The proper name for the world is Caelus. All the other planets use the Roman names of the gods. But for some reason, we decided to go with the Greek name in the one case that would obviously cause problems. The only reason "Uranus" and "anus" sound similar is that they have different roots. "Anus" comes from the Latin, while Uranus is Greek. The ancient Greeks didn't have this problem, as they only had the word for the deity. The Romans didn't have this problem, as they named their god Caelus. But for some asinine reason, we insist on calling the Seventh Planet Uranus instead of its proper Caelus.
We should rename it. I don't care if scientists at the time of its discovery preferred Uranus. We're allowed to move to more sensible names. We shouldn't be stuck with this forever. In fact, Herschel, the original discoverer, wanted to name it George. Bode came up with the name Uranus, apparently unaware of the Latin/Greek mismatch.
It's high time we give the Seventh World in our star system the proper respect it is due. The seventh planet is Caelus, not this ridiculous Uranus. We can do better.
Caelus does sound like a cooler name, but I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to forget this name by tomorrow.