Lake Silver

How big does a lake have to be before the word "lake" moves from the second to the first position? It's Lake Michigan, and Lake Mead. But little lakes are Pyramid Lake and Crater Lake, and my own neighborhood Silver Lake.

There's some disagreement whether the name of my community is Silver Lake or Silverlake. The city uses two words. A lot of the local shops make it one. Officially the two word version is correct. The lake is actually a resevoir named after a former member of the water board, Herman Silver. But there's an elegance to the elided version that attracts me. I've stopped correcting people who write it as a single word. Besides, the community is known for its counter-culturalism so it's even kind of Silver Lake to write Silverlake.

There's an element of beauty that trumps truth.