I realize its the literal translation of Baton Rogue . but have always wondered if BR folks and LSU folks deemed it offensive. I don't THINK it is . . but then again . .I'm not in BR. Just wondering . .
Not that I'm aware of Chuck and I'm a life long resident of Baton Rouge. It's not something anyone around here really says unless we're explaining the origin of our town's name. We usually hear it when some sports broadcaster is announcing an LSU game being played at home in their intro, etc.
Never heard anyone being offended by it -- but I'm sure there's at least one person out there that is. Everything offends someone.
I don't know how anybody could be offended by it but you never know what some politically correct liberal will come up with to be offended by. The French explorers who discovered the area saw a pole that was painted red by the Indians who lived in the area to mark the bluffs that are the first place on the Mississippi River that was high enough to be relatively immune from annual flooding. The word Baton Rouge in French means Red Stick (Baton - Stick, Rouge - red) Sounds like they got it backwards but thats how the French talk.
I seem to recall that the reason that the pole/stick was red was because the indians hung wild game they had killed on it. The pole was used for skinning the animals to be used for food. The blood from the animals was what caused the pole/stick to be tainted red. I could be wrong but, I'm pretty sure this is fact.
My recollection of Louisiana History was that the indians impaled the head of a rival on the "stick" to warn other potential attackers away from their spot on the river. The red, of course, was from the blood of the unfortunate individual's head.
I've always heard he stick was red from blood as well but it was used to mark the boundaries between two Indian tribes.
