The Two Dollar Project

What’s in a (place)name?

The history of American placenames is very interesting.  Native American words give us names such as Milwaukee and Tallahassee.  European settlers brought their own hometowns with them:  Hanover, Danbury, and so on.  But some names are the product of the new nation and its culture.  Jefferson, Washington, and Morris number among the founding fathers who are memorialized by placenames.  Truth or Consequences, New Mexico and DISH, Texas (which are both actual places named for television) are arguably even MORE American than Jefferson and Washington.

But the sheer number of places in this country means that they can’t all have distinct and unique names.  There is only one Truth or Consequences, but there are no fewer than 34 Springfields, and at least 40 Riversides (several of which are in Oregon.)  So it is understandable if people get confused when trying to get from one place to another.  Especially if they are from Belgium where the placenames are all Flemish.  Or German.  Or French, Dutch, Walloon, Picard, or Luxembourgish.

Paid for parking (in someone’s backyard) for the County Fair in Morris, New York:

Price:  $3

Paid: One $2 note, one $1 note

Response:  The parking lot attendant seemed to be the yard owner’s daughter (and did not look very bright.)  When I handed her the two notes, she looked at me and said, annoyed: “it’s THREE dollars.”  I replied: “That IS three dollars.”

She studied the notes, opening her eyes very wide when she detected the two dollar note. “Oh. Okay.”  I saw her thinking: “that woman definitely is not very bright.”  And then I parked.  As I drove away from her, she ran towards her other family members, waving with the notes, yelling: “look what I got, look what I got,” pointing with one hand in my direction and pointing her other index finger to her head.

To complete the story, I must admit that her thoughts about my intelligence were correct; before arriving in Morris, I had first driven up to MorrisVILLE,  about an hour’s drive away. I do wish Americans would have been a bit more creative when choosing their villages’ names, because I keep on struggling with all these same names. But that’s another story…