The Washington herald., 1908-03-01
WHY We LAUGH AT OSHKOSH
Inhabitants of That Beautiful Town
Do Not Deserve Ridicule.
Osh! Seems to Grip the Imagination,
and the Poor Citizen Suf-
fers Thereby.

Everybody almost has heard the
name Of the little Wisconsin city Of
Oshkosh Few know where and what
it is.
No town except the mythical Sque-
dunk and Podunk appear in more
humorous paragraphs and serve 10
point more Illustrations The con-
sonant combination "sh7 is one that
appears In words OF futility OF derI-
sion. OF weakness and lack OF cohesion.
such as bosh, tush. pshaw. mush. sIush.
marsh. lush. gush. shrink. shallow,
shoal sham. shack, shock. shillyshaIly.
shamble. Osh, What queer combina-
tion Of the futile -sh" and the assertive.
explosive hard o. II grips the imagi-
nation The paragraphers and even
the essayists whose opinions appear on
ly monthly and welghtily in Harper's
Monthly and the Atlantic talk about
people from Oshkosh. use them as
illustrations. as examples of supposed
characteristics.
While the man from SQuedunk and
Podunk could not be other than the
reuben, the tay he always Is in the
paragraphs. the Oshkosh individual is
pictured as a combination OF assertive-
ness. set up and 20. pretense. loudness.
and lack Of refinement Just the other
day that distinguished New Englander.
William Dean HoweIls. who never
visited the West except 10 sOjourn IN
ohio long enough 10 be born there. used
Oshkosh with exactly this connOtatton.
The inquiry might go still further
and ask II the thirty-Odd thousand per
sons who live in oshkosh are also
affected by the name and become the
sort Of individual the nation imagines
the inhabitant OF Oshkosh 10 be. saws
the Chicago News
To a certain extent the answer Is yes.
or would be yes If cOunteractinE local
conditions unknown 10 him who merely
hears the name did not mitigate and
neutraliZe the otherwise inevitable
effects OF the appeliation. For Oshkosh
Il set in a superlatlveIy beautiful loCa-
tion. The fact that the citizens never
advert 10 their wealth and talk about
the number OF sawlogs that annually
pass the draw and the COMMON druuks
that pass through the courts suggests
several hypothesis. Are they too
modest TO brag? Do the exquisite love
li1eSs Of unsung Winnebago and the
mystic charm Of the vast sedges
through which the wolf bursts into
Lake Butte des Morts merely counteract
The malign influence OF the citv's name
and ina themselves powerIess 20 raise
the population which il saves from be-
ing what Howells believes Il to be
to even moderate heights Of sentiment.
poesy. and appreciation OF the beauti-
ful2
The inhabitants Of Oshkosh are lively
and pugnaciOuS. we'll dressed. gay and
good looking. with a Gallo charm. In
summer one mas 10 be lively there. for
district so nUviatile. paIudine. and
iacustrine breeds all the mosquitoes
that are needed. Yet I aver that Osh-
koshians skip lively when they dance.
even in winter, which indicates that
their genius needs no spur
II is a pioneer community once re-
moved. \ generation ago Oshkosh was
clearing away the forests. and the
woodman's advenJuresOmeuess fingers
In the blood and the woOdsman's S
strength still tingles in eager muscles
Dressed up lumbermen, saws the
south OF Wisconsin with a disparage-
ment a bit i'll natured and a biz enviOus
Whereat the Oshkoshians pull them
selves together and scare cultured
Madison by trying 10 take the State
capital away from It, The happy
piratical days when United States Sena-
tors and others built up vast fortunes
honCred In OshkOsh-and elsewhere for
that matter-by logging on govern
ment land are not forgotten, and the
citizens are still on the alert for
government property, capitalists uni
versities, wOrkhouses - anything the
State Of Wisconsin may have left out
over night