I'd been hoping to visit Humptulips, but we ended up going to Wanker's Corner instead.
Pam and I are staying with her brother Mark in Portland, Oregon, at the end of a thousand-mile northwestern road trip. We were supposed to be visiting friends in Canada too, but the Canadians wouldn't let Pam in: she had a drink-driving conviction several years ago, paid the fine and everything, but is still banned from Canada. We've visited lots of European countries without any problems, and it seems unfair that she should be punished in Canada for something she did in the US - but there we go.
Anyway, we turned this setback to our advantage with a spectacular tour of the Cascades mountains, and then set course southwards to Portland. On the way, I spotted a little town called Humptulips, Washington on the map, and because I've always been a great believer in visiting places just because they have interesting names, we decided to go there. But then we realised we were running out of time, so we changed our minds.
Afterwards, I looked up the origin of the town's name on Wikipedia. It says:
The name Humptulips may have come from a local Native American language, meaning 'hard to pole', referring to the difficulty local Native Americans had poling their canoes along the Humptulips River. According to other sources the word means 'chilly region'.[4] Another possibility is that Humptulips was the name of a band of the Chehalis tribe.In other words, no one has the faintest idea.
Anyway, today we awarded ourselves a consolation prize by driving 25 miles south from Portland to Wanker's Corner. We had lunch at the Wanker's Corner Saloon and Café, prosaically located in a strip mall, where the waitress patiently explained that they had a constant stream of sniggering, camera-clicking British and Australian visitors. Then we continued to the local store to stock up on provisions.
On the way back to Portland, we passed a sign pointing to Boring, Oregon. I was all for going there too, but it was a 15-mile detour and I was overruled by Pam and Mark, who said that was enough silly placenames for one day.
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Well said Phil. 100% with you on that.
ReplyDeleteThe extremely selfish attitude of 'Christian' America toward health services for all is really strange. The attitude seems to be that people deserve only the services they can afford to pay for, no matter how inefficiently it's delivered or inadequate it may be. Shared responsibility for military hardware is fine, healthcare not. Hmmm....
Very well said, Phil. The selfish attitude in this country is shameful.
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoyed the Cascades. Where you near Lake Chelan? That is the lake we where we were boating when I met the man from GB and calle you so the two of you could talk! We really loved that area!
Sorry to hear about Pam and Canada. I've never heard of that happening to anyone!
Love your blog! --Mary & Steve in Spring Valley, OH
Thought of you today as our train passed "Wankdorf", just outside Bern. And I mean that in the best way possible.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?Wk_tells_Fking_to_get_a_grip&in_article_id=714925&in_page_id=2
ReplyDeleteOoh, drink-driving convinction, I'll have to remember that. (It wasn't a typo, was it?) Like "drinks machine." I was once asked (begged, really) by an agency I did occasional work for to translate a short document into British English. Their regular BE person was unable to do it, and it was for a major client, so I overrode my cardinal "only translate into your native language" rule. They sent me a couple of previous articles that person had translated to help me set the right tone, and in one of them stood "drinks machine." Ha! I thought. What an idiot. It's "drink machine." A moment later, I thought, "well, maybe it's a British thing." And, indeed, it was. Logical, really, as there's more than one drink in the machine at most times.
ReplyDeleteI see a dozen things a day in English here in the Netherlands that are just wrong from an American point of view, but I've learned to go straight to "well, it's probably a British thing" and skip the offended gasp. Usually.