What’s in a name?Recently, I told a friend we were going to Penetanguishene to see a musical called “Blood Brothers”. I thought his interest would be piqued by the title.
“A musical called “Blood Brothers?”- I thought he would e-mail back. “Aren’t musicals all sweet and nice?”- I believed he would have continued.
But no!
He couldn’t get over the length of the name of the Town of Penetanguishene. He said that we are so lucky to live where we live- Orillia and Toronto.You see- I’ll call this friend Don, Don has this CD for a group by the name of The Softones. I play them on Swisssh Radio.
He is like their “mail room guy”. He sends out Softone CDs when people order them. He tells me he has probably mailed a thousand of these CDs, hand-addressing each and every one.
So, he says to me in an e-mail-
“Could you even imagine living a life of sending out a thousand of these things and having to write with a black roller ball pen on each and every padded envelope, a small return address of 123 Your Drive, Penetanguishene, Ontario?
I changed his address for security reasons!
Why would anyone with a working brain live in a place with such a
long name?”
Why would anyone with a working brain live in a place with such a
long name?”
He continues…
“No doubt the longest name of any Canadian city. Surely they must have sent in a bill payment for something and realized their folly and moved to a place with a shorter name.”
He goes on still…
“…imagine trying to spell that horrid name to people on a trip to the US or writing it down in a hotel register or voting booth or anything else needing to know where you live? I tell you, we are so lucky.”
The e-mail ended there.
I sympathize with residents of Penetanguishene. When we lived in Mississauga one of our first addresses was-
93-19XX Mississagua Valley Boulevard, Mississauga, Ontario.
It never “fit” into the allotted space on any form. Then we moved to a street called “The Chase”. It was an area of Mississauga that had once been the home to gentle country landscapes and it just so happened that a horse farm occupied part of the property at one time. Hence all the names referenced an equine theme like “the Paddocks” or “the Gallops”.
Every time we told someone where we lived they would say- “How do you spell- The Chase?”We would say- “The word ‘the” and the word ‘chase’- like in a police chase.”
“Oh!”- they’d reply and carry on.
So, the long and short of it, we should be lucky living where we do.
Oh Damn!
I just realized our street name in Orillia is “Matchedash”.
Noboby outside this area even attempts to spell it. Like Nottawasaga Street and Tecumseth Street- both in Orillia, it can be confusing to out-of-towners.
So, that’s what’s in a name.
