Re: Projection
Right. It's a portmanteau of Elbridge Gerry's1 last name and "salamander" for the convoluted shape of the district created in Boston by the bill that Gerry signed.
In the US, anti-gerrymandering measures are controversial (because they threaten entrenched interests), but Iowa, at least, was able to institute some.
1Gerry, of Marblehead, Massachusetts,2 was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and subsequently Governor of Massachusetts, where he reluctantly3 allowed the practice which now bears his name. (Gerry was also Vice President under Madison.)
2AKA "the yachting capital of the world", "the home of the Spirit of '76", "birthplace of the American Navy", etc. Marblehead has never been shy about self-promotion.
3According to Wikipedia. I don't recall anything about his feelings on the matter coming up when we studied Gerry or gerrymandering in school, and I'm not going to dig out primary sources at the moment.