[318/366] chicken

[cosmolinguist]

So at work today diffrentcolours texted me to say "The town of Chicken, Alaska - so named because they weren't sure how to spell Ptarmigan" with a link. I read out this sentence, and a couple from the Wikipedia page, to L and J:

Due to the prevalence of ptarmigan in the area, that name was suggested as the official name for the new community. However, the spelling could not be agreed on, and "Chicken" was used to avoid embarrassment. A portion of Chicken, with buildings from the early 1900s...blah blah...is listed on the National Register of Historical Places as the Chicken Historic District.

I had to stop at the part about calling the town Chicken to avoid embarassment. It might have avoided spelling embarassment, but there are other kinds.

And I had to stop altogether after "Chicken Historic District" because J was laughing so much he had to actually fan himself to calm down. At one point, L said, "For J's benefit...'ptarmigan' starts with a silent 'p,' " and J, collapsign into giggles again, was like "You can't tell me these things all at once! I need a break!" L had to save his jokes until after J had calmed down a little and had taken his laptop off his lap so it'd be safe.

They decided any fried chicken places in the town should be called Chicken Fried Chicken (vegan restaurants could just be called Chicken Restaurant because they're a restaurant in Chicken!), speculated on the existence of a Chicken Museum...and I think the phrase "Chicken Historical District" might be able to break J any time he hears it in the future.

Comments

[otter]

That's ridiculously funny

[otter]

Looks like Chicken had a population boom in the 1930s!!

There's a town in Mn (I think) called Blueberry. About the same size as Chicken. We drove through there once, probably some time before they built I-94

[otter]

I just looked Blueberry up. It's a roaring metropolis compared to Chicken :) It's at least tripled in size since I was a kid, IIRC.

[cosmolinguist]

diffrentcolours found out about chicken from a list of what's supposed to be the silliest town name in each state. And Minnesota's was Little Canada! Which is not silly at all! Blueberry would be better, but I guess it's a township and not a town.

(My favorite of the whole list is Plenty Bears, South Dakota. It sounds like someone just put that on a map as a "here be dragons" type warning and other people thought it was the name of the place. :) )

[azurelunatic]

Isn't it just the best?! I learned in elementary school, and I still giggle when I think about it.

[anankastick]

I've been to Chicken, AK! It's just as adorable and funny a place as it seems.

[barakta]

Your work people sound like great fun people. Sometimes a good group giggle is the best thing.

Silly place names never get old. I am minded of Douglas Adams' The Meaning of Liff. And making a modern version.

[silveradept]

That sounds entirely like how history is made. And also why history is made. Glad that it was funny for everyone, though, laughter is important these days.