Happy Friday to all. Sorry for the layoff but I have been sick. I actually had to take a sick day on a day when I was actually sick. I am very mad at myself for this one and I'm sure my dad is very disappointed with me. I'm gonna get right into this one because I really can't think of too much pre-blog-post fluff to include today.
As you know I do a lot of work throughout New England. This week was no different as I made my weekly trip to Gloucester. This week it was much nicer than the -40° F/C I encountered last time. Anyway, if you've ever driven through any New England state you have probably noticed that the town names seem very old fashioned. Also, if you have been to England, or read about it, or watched BBC, you may have realized that a lot of the town names were taken from jolly olde England. Hence New England. Not just a clever name people. Manchester, England...Manchester, New Hampshire. Not a coincidence.
So anyway, I finally decided to do a little research (on company time, of course) into the matter. Just how many names did our forefathers steal from the homeland? With a little help from Wikipedia and some crafty Excel manipulation I arrived at the answer:
Towns in England: 1319
Towns in New England: 1529
Towns with the same name: 210
That means that those lazy old dudes were so lazy that they couldn't even come up with new names for the towns the lived in. About 15% of the town names are the same. I don't know about you, but if I had the chance to settle a new country and kill some Indians in the process, I sure wouldn't name my town Fort Washington (where I am originally from). I would call it Awesomeville, or Cheifetburgh, or Vaginadelphia. That last one has a good ring to it, let's make it the Capital. I mean, you get the chance to literally write the history books but you know what, i'm too lazy and unoriginal, I can't think of anything. Here are some probable conversations had by the original settlers:
"Sally, I just bought us two tickets on the Mayflower. It leaves tonight."
"Between which two ports?"
"Uh...it leaves Plymouth, England tonight at 8 and gets to Plymouth, America in 6 months"
"Plymouth to Plymouth, that doesn't make any sense! Is that a round-trip or one-way ticket?"
(That last line is actaully pretty funny if you think about it)
--Upon arrival in Plymouth, America--
"John, stop kissing the ground, we made it."
"Sally, I know, I am just so happy to be here."
"So we left England to come to this new land? It's hot. What shall we call it?"
"Sally, stop nagging me, I'm taking a nap. How about New England?"
(You see settler John said this as a joke to shut up his annoying wife and the rest is history...or is it herstory???
PS - that photo of me at Stonehenge is in Amesbury, England not Amesbury, Massachusetts
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