CapK's trip journal entry on Michigan, and his commentary on the misnomer "Lake" as applied to our beloved Great Lakes reminded me of the controversy caused a couple of years ago when federal legislation designated Lake Champlain as a "Great Lake." Sometimes, the hoi polloi pays more attention to semantics that we expect.

The point of the designation was to afford funding to studies conducted under the National Sea Grant program, but people in the (real) Great Lakes states were completely offended by the idea that Lake Champlain -- a beautiful body of water, no one disputes, but only 108 miles long and 12 miles across at its widest point -- could qualify as a Great Lake.

The federal legislation was quickly amended to allocate funds to Lake Champlain without called it a "Great Lake," and everybody was happy.

More: http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/LChamplain/Media/ESRJan99.htm

Lake Champlain info: http://www.ferries.com/history.html

Great Lakes info:

http://www.great-lakes.net/lakes/ref/lakefact.html

Lake Ontario is: 53 x 93 miles

Lake Erie is: 57 x 241 miles

Lake Michigan is: 118 x 307 miles

Lake Huron is: 183 x 206 miles

Lake Superior is: 160 x 350 miles