ee161bep@sdcc3.UUCP (Paul Van de Graaf) (08/27/85)
In article <2736@ut-sally.UUCP> barnett@ut-sally.UUCP (Lewis Barnett) writes: > Wake Forest Demon Deacons. (Well, it seems bizarre to me...) They used to have a really wild mascot a while back... A Black guy about 6'4" in a devil suit complete with pitch-fork! He did back-flips, and accosted young women by poking them in various parts of their anatomy with said pitch-fork. >STATE PARKS: > Hungry Mother State Park, southwest Virginia, near Abingdon. I've been to this place, it's named for a women who starved in the area. The name has something to do with an old story told by residents of the area. A child was found wandering in what is now the park. She asked the people to get some food for her mother who was hungry and had sent her out for food. When they found her mother, she was dead. >STREET NAMES: > Oddfellows Road Lynchburg, Va. Named for an Orphanage on this road called the Odd Fellows Home. As a former resident of Lynchburg, I went to school with some kids from this place. They were rather odd fellows. Lynchburg itself qualifies as a bizarre city, as it is the home base of Jerry Fallwell. I'm glad I left that place before he totally ruined it. And in case you're wondering, it's not called Lynchburg because a lot of lynching went on there. It's named after John Lynch. >Lewis Barnett,CS Dept, Painter Hall 3.28, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 >-- barnett@ut-sally.ARPA, barnett@ut-sally.UUCP, > {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!barnett As you can tell, most odd names have some story behind them whose meaning has been forgotten. I'm surprized I haven't seen any postings about Zyx Zyx (Zi-zeks), a name of a city (somewhere near Palm Springs I think), and of streets all over the U. S. There are many variations on the spelling, so don't quote me on this one. Here's some of my collection of Odd names: The Virginia Tech Fighting Gobblers: Former mascot was a Turkey (I think it fit in with the color scheme), but was changed a while back to the "Hokies" -- an equally wimpy and incompre- hensible moniker. Palmdale, Ca: Not really odd, but the name is a mistake. The people who first settled the place (I believe they were Mormans) had never seen a palm tree before. They mistook the Joshua trees which grow in abundance there for palm trees. I don't think I've seen a single palm tree growing wild there. Goochland, Va. (a total waste of a town refered to by some as douche-land) Kill Devil Hills, NC. (anyone know the story behind this name?) Long and Winding Road. Somewhere between Bryce and Zion canyons in either Arizona or Utah, I forget. Getting a bit long, so I'll leave it at that... Stay Bizarre... Paul van de Graaf sdcsvax!sdcc3!ee161bep U. C. San Diego
terry@nrcvax.UUCP (Terry Grevstad) (08/29/85)
ee161bep@sdcc3.UUCP (Paul van de Graaf) says: ... >Long and Winding Road. Somewhere between Bryce and Zion canyons in > either Arizona or Utah, I forget. > >Getting a bit long, so I'll leave it at that... Stay Bizarre... > >Paul van de Graaf sdcsvax!sdcc3!ee161bep U. C. San Diego Well, since Bryce and Zion canyons are both in Utah, I would bet it's in Utah, 'cause if it's in Arizona it is *aptly* named! -- \"\t\f1A\h'+1m'\f4\(mo\h'+1m'\f1the\h'+1m'\f4\(es\t\f1\c _______________________________________________________________________ Terry Grevstad Network Research Corporation {sdcsvax,hplabs}!sdcrdcf!psivax!nrcvax!terry ucbvax!calma!nrcvax!terry