Things I Find Fascinating: Incredible, Interesting, And Ironic Illinois Place Names

Like Pennsylvania, Florida, South Carolina, and any other states I've done before on this blog, the state of Illinois has quite a few curiously named towns, cities, and other places. Regardless of the potential noble origins of these names, regardless of the perfectly logical reasons they ended up being called what they are, I find it my duty as a blogger of fascinating things to catalog the strangest among these Illinois place names. Enjoy!

1)  Why Do I Feel Like I've Been Here Before...Somewhere Else?  Even more than some of the previous states I've done of these, Illinois seems to have a high number of place names taken from other places around the country and even around the globe.

CITIES

Manhattan

Charleston

Atlanta

 Oakland

Akron

Albany

Brooklyn

Cincinnati

Detroit

Houston

Birmingham

Omaha

Philadelphia

Raleigh

STATES

Kansas

Oregon

Washington

Wyoming

Maryland

Mississippi

Missouri

Maine

Nebraska

Ohio

Tennessee

Texas

Vermont

Virginia

INTERNATIONAL

Peru

Ottawa

Athens
Cairo

Cuba

Marseilles

Paris

Ontario

Palestine

Rome

2)  I'm In The Mood For Love:  Cupid must live in Illinois, based on all the love-related places that are located there. If we had to pinpoint exactly where all those love arrows originate, I'd bet it's in one of these towns, villages, or cities.

Loves Park

Lovington

Boody

Blissville

Jubilee

Licking  (Ugh, T.M.I.!)

Lovejoy

Ogle County

Paradise

and my two favorites...

Romeoville

and

Joliet

3)  That Sounds Familiar, Too:  Several other Illinois place names sound very familiar as well, but aren't necessarily associated with cities, states, or countries located elsewhere. See if these ring a bell for you, too.

Harvard

Princeton

Sleepy Hollow

Woodstock

Winnebago

Golf

Arrowsmith

Metropolis

English

Hometown

4)  Native American Place Names:  These are always among my favorite entries, not because I enjoy picking on Native Americans. On the contrary, I enjoy discovering new Native American words -- I think they sound beautifully lyrical. Here are some of Illinois' finest.

Pontooosuc

Wauponsee

Woosung

Oquawka

Kankakee

Kewanee

Nippersink Lake

Na-Au-Say

Aptakisic Creek

Pistakee Highlands

Peoria

and of course...

Chicago

and

Illinois

5)  Just Plain Weird Place Names:  This is the portion of our show where I list a bunch of non-themed place names with oddball names and add my appropriately (or sometimes inappropriately) snarky comments. Prepare to groan...frequently!

Prophetstown  (you wanna go where 

everybody knows your future)

Sandwich  (you're making me hungry)

 Cornland  (okay, seriously!

now I want some corn!)

Goofy Ridge  (I'd be right at home there)

Grand Detour  (this is a thinly veiled

euphemism for "we are SO lost")

Lost Nation  (yes it is, sadly...)

Aroma  (I can smell it from here!)

Bible Grove  (money doesn't grow on

trees, but apparently Bibles do)

Money Creek  (oh, okay, it grows in creeks)

Bonus  (formerly known as Extra Credit)

Chili  (just down the road

 from Ketchup and Mustard)

Dement  (come here, go crazy!)

Downers Grove  (what a bummer!)

Drummer  (what a drummer!)

Embarrass  (a shameful place to live)

Equality  (I can dig it)

Fidelity  (always an admirable virtue)

Harmony  (wouldn't that be nice?)

Liberty  (count me in!)

Justice  (the blinder the better!) 

 Funk's Grove  (they grow

 funk music here? way cool!)

Hurlbut  (formerly known as Tossbackside)

Looking Glass  (should you visit? go ask Alice)

Normal  (I wouldn't recognize it if I saw it)

Omphghent  (I'm sorry, what?)

Half Day  (I'd rather have a whole day)

Flossmoor  (I know, I know -- my

dentist tells me that every time I go!)

Santa Claus  (I thought he lived a bit father north)

Paw Paw  (Maw Maw feels left out)

Shabbona  (m-m-m-my Shabbona!)

South Muddy  (that's icky!)

North Hurricane  (that's windy!)

Sublette  (it's better than breaking your lease)

Talkington  (formerly known as Chattertown)

Wysox  (a better question is, Wyshoes?)

Waldo  (I FOUND HIM!!!)

Things I Find Fascinating: Unfortunately Named Actors And Actresses

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that I won't shy away from making fun of people's names, especially if it means I get a good blog post out of it. Well, I don't know if today's blog post could be considered "good," but at least it's interesting. I think so, at least. Nonetheless, here you have them – 14 unfortunately named actors and actresses, complete with obligatory photos...

This lovely and talented young actress inherited a 

most unsuitable surname through no fault of her own.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet IMOGEN POOTS.

This young actor probably got his share of ribbing from the 

other kids during the filming of the two Harry Potter films

he was in, due to his silly-sounding last name. No wonder

he looks so crazed! Meet SEAN BIGGERSTAFF.

A veteran of television and films, this seasoned actress has never let her 

ridiculous-sounding first name hold her back. Meet SWOOSIE KURTZ.

Okay, so his first name is technically Elmore (which isn't

great, either). But this guy stuck with tradition and chose to 

be known by the nickname that the men in his family 

have embraced for generations. Meet RIP TORN.

So she doesn't like her first name (Carol). Or her middle name 

(Christine). Or her other middle name (Hilaria – understandably). 

But with a surname like hers, choosing to go by all three of her 

initials makes her sound less like a talented actress and more like a 

tool you'd find at your local hardware store. Meet CCH POUNDER.

His first name describes him pretty well, actually. If he happens to be

the kind of guy who tells really horrible jokes that no one finds funny,

then his last name might also fit him well. Meet HARRY GROENER.

A wonderfully talented actress and comedienne, this Fawlty Towers

veteran suffers from a hideously ugly-sounding name. It conjures up

thoughts of fish and constipation, and that's never a good thing. She did

change her last name (Illingworth) when she became an actress, but she

didn't do anything to fix her first name. Meet PRUNELLA SCALES.

He sure looks like a tough guy, but you'd never know it by his name.

If you saw this guy's name, you'd expect to see ingredients and cooking

instructions below it and not an acting resumé. Meet HERB RICE.

Her first name is a day of the week. Her last name sounds like

a specific time of day. Put it all together, and she sounds more

like an appointment than an actress. Meet TUESDAY KNIGHT.

In some cases, a person's face is just as unfortunate as their name.

Such is the case with this poor guy. No, that's not makeup. He really

looks like that. Meet the scarily-named SKELTON KNAGGS.

This edgy actress has a name to match her nontraditional looks

and skills. Meet the unusually-named FAIRUZA BALK.

This guy's given name was Charles. Middle name, John. But he

chose to go by a curious nickname which these days sounds less like

a name than a rear end. Yes, that rear end. Meet HEINIE CONKLIN.

Speaking of backsides (now how often do you 

see that phrase on this blog?), this lovely and

talented French actress was saddled with an unfortunate, 

old-school moniker that's understandably gone out 

of fashion these days. Meet FANNY ARDANT.

When I was young, I regularly watched a TV show in which this lady

was a lead actress. Thus, she was the first actor or actress I ever became

aware of who possessed a truly unfortunate name. But this actress's

name has never stopped her from getting steady work. The show she

was on was St. Elsewhere. Her name is CHRISTINA PICKLES.

Words I Wish I Wrote: Thanksgiving Quotes

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYBODY!!!

1)  "When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself."  ~  Tecumseh

2)  "On the recollection of so many and great favors and blessing, I now, with a high sense of gratitude, presume to offer up my sincere thanks to the Almighty, the Creator and Preserver."  ~  William Bartram

3)  "I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."  ~  G.K. Chesterton

4)  "To give thanks in solitude is enough. Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows much more about it than you do."  ~  Victor Hugo

5)  "Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves."  ~  Henry Ward Beecher 


6)  "Be true to yourself, help others, make each day your masterpiece, make friendship a fine art, drink deeply from good books -- especially the Bible -- build a shelter against a rainy day, give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance every day."  ~  John Wooden


7)  "No duty is is more urgent than that of returning thanks."  ~  James Allen


8)  "On Thanksgiving, I will stop to give thanks that my family is safe and healthy, especially because I realize that, following the tragedies of this year, it is all too real a possibility that they might not have been."  ~  Bobby Jindal


9)  "Who is there that ever receives a gift and tries to make bargains about it? Let us, then, return thanks for what He has bestowed on us. Who can tell whether, if we had had a larger share of ability or stronger health, we should not have possessed them to our destruction."  ~  Alphonsus Liguori


10)  "Best of all is it to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be for every pulse a thanksgiving, and for every breath a song."  ~  Konrad von Gesner


11)  "To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch heaven."  ~  Johannes A. Gaertner


12)  "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."  ~  Melody Beattie


13)  "We can always find something to be thankful for, and there may be reasons why we ought to be thankful for even those dispensations which appear dark and frowning."  ~  Albert Barnes


14)  "Thou that has given so much to me, give one thing more -- a grateful heart; not thankful when it pleases me, as if Thy blessings had spare days; but such a heart, whose pulse may be Thy praise."  ~  George Herbert


15)  "True thanksgiving means that we need to thank God for what He has done for us, and not to tell Him what we have done for Him."  ~  George R. Hendrick

Songs By Bands With Animal Names, Vol. 2

In case the "Vol. 2" in the title didn't give you a clue, this is the second entry in a new mini-series of posts featuring songs by bands with animals in their names. If you haven't seen the first post, you can read it here. Last time I covered canines, felines, and hooved animals. This time it's primates, bears, and rodents. There will definitely be more entries in this series, so stay tuned. As before, a wide variety of musical styles, both old and new, are represented here. You probably won't like them all, but I'm sure you'll like some. You might even be familiar with a couple of them. Enjoy!

THE PRIMATES

1)  The Monkees  ~  "Daydream Believer"

2)  Gorillaz  ~  "Stylo"

3)  Arctic Monkeys  ~  "The View From The Afternoon"

4)  Orang-Utan  ~  "Chocolate Piano"

THE BEARS

1)  Grizzly Bear  ~  "Ready, Able"

2)  Minus The Bear  ~  "Throwin' Shapes"

3)  Panda Bear  ~  "Comfy In Nautica"

4)  Kovacs And The Polar Bear  ~  "Skeleton Crew"

5)  Bear In Heaven  ~  "Reflection Of You"

(WARNING: DO NOT WATCH 

IF YOU ARE EPILEPTIC!!!)

THE RODENTS

1)  Modest Mouse  ~  "Dashboard"

2)  Echo & The Bunnymen  ~  "The Killing Moon"

3)  The Aquabats  ~  "Super Rad"

4)  Squirrel Nut Zippers  ~  "Suits"

5)  RATT  ~  "Round And Round"

6)  Porcupine Tree  ~  "Piano Lessons"

7)  Gopher Broke Band  ~  "Some Sunday"

Interesting Quotes By Famous Women Named Anne

1)  "If you marry the wrong person for the wrong reasons, then no matter how hard you work, it's never going to work, because then you have to completely change yourself, completely change them, completely -- by that time, you're both dead."  ~  Anne Bancroft, actress

2)  "We build the worlds we wouldn't mind living in. They contain scary things, problems, but also a sense of rightness that makes them alive and makes us want to live there."  ~  Anne McCaffrey, writer

 

3)  "And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me."  ~  Anne Boleyn, Queen of England

4)  "I was raised to pretend."  ~  Anne Heche, actress

5)  "Evil is always possible. Goodness is a difficulty."  ~  Anne Rice, writer

6)  "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."  ~  Anne Frank, writer

7)  "There's something very addictive about people pleasing. It's a thought pattern and a habit that feels really, really good until it becomes desperate."  ~  Anne Hathaway, actress

8)  "Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose -- not the one you began with perhaps, but one you'll be glad to remember."  ~  Anne Sullivan, teacher

9)  "The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere."  ~  Anne Morrow Lindbergh, writer

 

10)  "I expect that any day now, I will have said all I have to say; I'll have used up all my characters, and then I'll be free to get on with my real life."  ~  Anne Tyler, writer

11)  "See into life, don't just look at it."  ~  Anne Baxter, actress

12)  "He that dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose."  ~  Anne Bronte, writer

13)  "When I appear in public people expect me to neigh, grind my teeth, paw the ground, and swish my tail -- none of which is easy."  ~  Princess Anne, British royalty

14)  "I do not at all understand the mystery of grace -- only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us."  ~  Anne Lamott, writer

15)  "If we had no winter, the spring would  not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."  ~  Anne Bradstreet, poet

Things That Happened Today, But Not This Year

1493 – On his second voyage to the West Indies, Christopher Columbus first comes ashore on an island he had spotted the day before. He names it San Juan Bautista. The island is later renamed Puerto Rico. Of course, Columbus wasn't the first to discover it. Indigenous aboriginal peoples, known as Tainos, had already populated the island for centuries by this time.

1816 – The Royal University of Warsaw is established in Warsaw, Poland. Today, the University of Warsaw is the largest in all of Poland, with an enrollment of over 56,000 students and a staff of over 6,000, including over 3,100 educators.

1831 – James A. Garfield, the 20th U.S. President, is born. Fifty years later, Garfield is gunned down in a train station by a madman who had been stalking him for weeks. He dies two months later.

1862 – Billy Sunday, fleet-footed professional baseball player, is born. After eight seasons in the big leagues, Sunday will retire from baseball and go on to become a celebrated and fiery evangelist as well as one of the strongest supporters of Prohibition.

1863 – President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the military cemetery ceremony in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Despite Lincoln's assertion in the speech that "the world will little note nor long remember what we say here," hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren in the ensuing years have had to memorize, word for word, exactly what Lincoln said that memorable day.

1916 – Samuel Goldfish and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures, one of the earliest motion picture production companies. In 1924, Goldwyn Pictures merged with Metro Pictures and Louis B. Mayer pictures, and the alliance became known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM for short. Sound familiar?

Yep, that's the one!

1917 – Indira Gandhi is born. Gandhi will go on to become the four-term Prime Minister of India (1966-77, 1980-4), the first woman to hold that position. She is also only the second female in the world to ever become the head of her country's government. (Sirimavo Bandaranike of Sri Lanka was the first.)

1946 – Afghanistan, Iceland, and Sweden join the United Nations.

1955 – National Review publishes its first issue. The fortnightly magazine was founded by the late William F. Buckley, Jr. Self-described as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion," the National Review still boasts a total circulation of 166,755 in a day and age where print magazines are on their way out.

1959 – The Ford Motor Company announces the discontinuation of the unpopular Edsel. Apparently, it didn't quite live up to the hype. Maybe it was the bad karma from the blatant sexism in this commercial...

1969 – Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum (the "Ocean of Storms") and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.

1976 – Jack Dorsey is born. Thirty years later, Dorsey will go on to create a popular online social networking service that enables its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 characters. You might have heard of it? It's called Twitter.

1985 – In Geneva, Switzerland, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time. This would be one of several meetings between the two world leaders in an effort to end the Cold War, which had been going on for decades by that time.

1990 – Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the Girl You Know It's True album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals. Busted!

This is not even that great of a song. 

How'd it win a Grammy in the first place?

1998 – The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings against President Bill Clinton.

1998 – Vincent van Gogh's Portrait Of The Artist Without A Beard sells at auction for $71.5 million. Wow! I wonder what it would have sold for if he'd painted himself with mutton chop sideburns?