From: rickg@netcom.com (Rick Gordon)
Newsgroups: alt.peeves
Subject: Re: Palestine.
Date: 17 Dec 92 20:58:24 GMT
Followup-To: alt.peeves
Organization: Netcom - SF Bay, Cal Northifornia

In article <liur73INN444@jethro.Corp.Sun.COM> geoffm@purplehaze writes:

>In article 92Dec11223238@peak.nmsu.edu, larry@peak.nmsu.edu (Evil Engineer doin' it the Cowboy Way) writes:
>
>> Just in case you care about correct [Texas] pronounciation, the phonetic
>> spelling is Palisteen. Based on the Texas pronounciation of Amarillo
>> (rhymes with Brillo), you know these folks are fussy about being correct.
>
>They're *weird,* is what they are.  When I mentioned Deaf Smith County, Texas,
>in a conversation with my father, he informed me that according to Texans, the 
>correct pronunciation of the first word in that name is "deef."

In northeast Texas is a town of about 1500 called Bogata, which the natives
pronounce "Buh-GO-duh".  Years ago it was called Sweetwater, but the state
asked the civic leaders to change the name, on account of there was already
a couple of Sweetwaters in Texas already.  The Mayor called the civic
leaders together to pick a new name.  Looking at a map of Texas they could
see at a glance that all the really good names were taken: Athens, Carthage,
Palestine, Nacodoches.  They argued for about an hour, but there was nothing
for it, they couldn't agree on what the hell to call the place.

Now the Mayor, being a born-and-raised Babtist and a politician by conversion,
got agreement for the following plan: "We spin this globe around and take a
stab at her like *this*, and wherever the finger lands, that's it."  The
congregation assembled would have liked to go on arguing the merits of
"Tumblehome" and "Crockettville" and "Ida Mae", but the Post Office was
acting uppity and demanded they settle on a name right *now*, so they went
along with the Mayor.  Dub Palmer spun the globe around, the Mayor closed
his eyes and took a stab.  His finger landed in South America, in Colombia
to narrow it, but that was OK, there were lots of towns in Texas sounded
like South America, or Mexico.

"Buh-GO-duh", said the mayor, "is the name and I don't want to hear another
peep."  Charlie McAlpin was recording the proceedings for the Minutes of
the meeting and wrote it into the record while everybody tried out
the new name.  For a couple of minutes nobody said anything but "Buh-GO-duh",
over and over again, trying to get a feel for it.  After some little while
everybody agreed it was a fine name, just fine, and a quick check of the
map showed no other town in Texas had picked it.  Civic pride is a
wonderful thing to see, and by the end of a week most folks had taken the
new name to their hearts and would defend it with the most logical, the
most intelligent-sounding arguments you ever heard.

Unfortunately, Charlie got it wrong and misrecorded one of the letters, so
what was supposed to be "Bogota" got recorded at the County Seat, the Post
Office, and the National Geographic Headquarters as "Bogata", and it stuck.
But if you're ever in that part of Texas, about 25 miles out of Paris, right
by Cunningham, you'll know how to say the name the *right* way, and won't
sound like a danged newbie to the locals.

>Geoff

-- 
Rick Gordon      | "Loud is good." 
rickg@netcom.com |   -- Frank Loesser 
Newsgroups: alt.peeves