This has nothing to do with individual words, but it's hilarious! Only in Portland, Oregon, the city of Weird! http://www.katu.com/news/local...nager-229651431.html

The dream of the 1890's is alive in Portland. But this is a joke.

I only identified it as a joke when she said, "inconvenient bicycles." In Portland, they're surprisingly convenient! Fun video!

Very funny, Geoff, and so typical. I love Portland.

I tried to make this a word post, by looking up the word. I found that, while not in the top 1,000 names, Portland is actually a boy's name - from Old English.

Both Portland, Oregon, and Portland, Maine, are named after the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. It is the source of the famous Portland Stone, used in many public buildings world-wide.

There's also a Portland, Indiana, quite near to me. I doubt it's anything like as weird, though.

I assume that Portland cement is named for the Dorset location too.

quote:

I assume that Portland cement is named for the Dorset location too.

Yes indeedy.

Rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd put this here. It's part of an article from the Huffington Post which asked Facebook readers to list items only those over 50 would know about.

1) "Having one phone, connected to a wall, located in the hall of a 1,300-square-foot house with two parents and two children. And one TV in the living room. The great room and entertainment room was the backyard!" said Julie Moore.
2) "Green Stamps," said Valier Barricklow.
3) "Schools that would have drills when we were little. Whether it was for tornadoes or nuclear bombs, the drill was the same. You'd be safe under your desk! LOL!" said Susan Foster Beste.
4) "Parents disciplining their children and not being their 'friend'," said Donna C. White.
5) "How special Mr. Green Jeans was," said Sandy Clutter.
6) "The national anthem on TV at 1 a.m.," said Cheryl De Primio.
7) "A milk man driving the milk truck around delivering glass bottles of milk to your doorstep," said Tina Benefield.
8) "Hello this is the operator," said Frank Soos.
9) "5 1/2-day workweeks," said John Pierse.
10) "What it is like to go to a drive-in movie!! and walk to the snack bar! and make out with your boyfriend in the back seat!!" said Sherrill Cochran.
11) "Odd and even days to get gas during the OPEC oil embargo," said Deborah Gallant.
12) "Nurses/Nursing Assistants only able to wear white dress/white stockings/white shoes," said Mary Campbell.
13) "Cliff diving on 'Wide World Of Sports'," said Nancy Mesek.
14) "A typewriter," said Debbi Miller.
15) "Howdy Doody," said Jazzy Be.
16) "Watching your favorite TV shows at the exact time they were on. Especially 'Ed Sullivan' and the 'Wizard Of Oz' once a year. You had to be home to watch your favorites," said Kristy Hoyt Metcalf.
17) "Water from the faucet! Paying for water would have insane!!!" said Mary Hummel.
18) "Eat what's in front of you or don't eat at all," said Dana Vermeersch.
19) "Tin foil on rabbit ears and TV remotes that were connected to the TV with a cord," said Lisa Ernest Bondeson.
20) "Gathering at that lucky neighbor's house on Sunday nights to watch 'Bonanza' on their color TV!" said Pam Baker.
21) "The assassination of JFK!" said George Costalas.
22) "When mail would come twice a day," said John Pierse.
23) "No answering machines, beepers or cell phones. How did we survive? LOL!" said Ronnie Kaminski Latimer.
24) "Fibber McGee's closet," said Pam Baker.
25) "Mimeograph machine," said Susan Dimmick Harrison.
26) "Good customer service," said Sallie Arnoult.
27) "K-tel," said Debb Lemke.
28) "Party lines," said Diane Kohne Bellard.
29) "Burma Shave signs," said Alexandra Jackiw.
30) "Rotary dial telephone service," said Jim Britt.
31) "Life before calculators," said Patty Wilkins Gabso.
32) "L S M F T I remember hearing that slogan when I was little. Can you Baby Boomers guess it? Hint Tobacco -- I don't smoke, but all the movies made in the 50s showed people smoking," said Jane Thompson.
33) "Mr. Magoo," said Jim Britt.
34) "Catholic females wearing "chapel caps" for Mass," said Sue Bastien.
35) "The Miracle on Ice," said Peggy Bell Nolan.
36) "Carbon paper," said Susan Hagadorn.
37) "Air raid drills in NJ, during the 1950s -- having to get under your desk in school or behind a sofa at home with all the shades and curtains pulled, no lights on. Then you'd hear an airplane fly overhead and be terrified it was a bomber," said June Smith.
38) "Phone numbers that began with a word... (example: BUtterfield 8-2345)," said John Pierse.
39) "Watching the launches of the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo rockets on television in school or at home every time there was one, and then watching them splash down on return. Also, the whole world watching and praying for the Apollo 13 astronauts," said Debi Swanson Groenendyk.
40) "On a lighter note, the ladies always dressed up to go shopping, dresses or skirts/blouses/sweaters, heels with seamed nylons, hats/gloves. Men wore ties and jackets," said June Smith.
41) "Skate key," said Lynda Pomeroy.
42) "Not being allowed to wear pants to school -- how very dated!" said Kathy J. Vanest.
43) "An ice box, not a refrigerator!" said Kirsten Hines.
44) "Being able to play outside all day without having to check in with a cell phone -- and your parents aren't the least bit worried about it. The world was a safer, nicer place," said Melanie Springer.
45) "I remember a time when there was no swearing on TV shows or in movies. Today every other word is f$$k, so distasteful," said Lynn Weber.
46) "Title IX -- effective June 23, 1972," said Kathy J. Vanest.
47) "Hospital wards run by a Matron where everything was done & run like clockwork -- cleaners arrived at 7 and had to be out before doctors started their rounds at 10 sharp. Nurses were caring and did what they were trained for," said Janet Loveandlight Gibson.
48) "A percolator to make coffee," said John Smith.
49) "'Walking Tall' film," said Lynda Stone Zimmerman.
50) "Secret Sam, six finger (toy) and -- remember when they promoted her this way? -- Bendable Barbie," said Laura Reid,

I'm not complaining, just curious, Proof, but why the reluctance to start a new thread?

Sloth

A typewriter

Recently I saw someone using a typewriter in a coffee shop. Kids today.

My mother was a great Green Stamp collector, even though she never used the books to buy anything that I knew of. When the stamps were ended, she had fifty or sixty books, none complete.

Quite a lot of those are things that only Americans over 50 would know about. Several I can't decipher at all.

It just occurred to me that I haven't seen a woman in a dress during this decade!

There's a straight line for you, Proof!

quote:

Both Portland, Oregon, and Portland, Maine, are named after the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. It is the source of the famous Portland Stone, used in many public buildings world-wide.

That seems to be the case for nearly all our city names, at least in the East and the Midwest (though the Midwest has a lot of native Indian names too). I think it's less so in the West, but then they have names based on their heritage, too. I have wondered why people are so uncreative with coming up with city names.

We tend towards the familiar.

As for Western city names, there are plenty of indigenous names, such as Clackamas, Oregon, or Snohomish, Washington. Then there are names left by earlier settlers, such as Des Moines, Iowa, Deschutes, Oregon, Versailles, Indiana, et.al. Funny thing, though: Here in Indiana they murder the original French pronunciation, whereas in Oregon and Washington they pretty much cleave to the original way of saying it. F'rinstance, where the heck do Indiana residents come up with "Noter Daym" for Notre Dame, or "Ver-sails" for Versailles??? Hmmm.. I think I answered my own question with my first sentence!

Yes, some of the pronunciations of cities names are hilarious. That's what you get when you can't come up with your own names, I guess.