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Carpal Tunnel
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A while back I/we had a visit from the one known on this board as belligerentyouth... once ya got to know his humor there was not much belligerence remaining... ...On a bus ride across town he gave up a bit of a chuckle (out of nowhere) and, after asking "what's so funny", he pointed out the name of a street here called "Damen" and reminded me that this meant "women" in German (collective/plural I believe). Any other (potentially humorous) odd names for a street? not that women are odd or even potentially humorous, but.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well, "Broadway" could be inspired by the ladies!  (running for cover, running very quickly, I might add!)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I've lived on two darkly named streets:
Masada Drive
Terminal Avenue
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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During my summer in Santa Fe, NM, in 1964, I lived on a street called Camino Sin Nombre (street without a name)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And were you riding a horse with no name? Through a desert?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In Kalamazoo/Portage Romence Road intersects with Lovers Lane. You can get to Climax by either route, if you know the way.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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- Pfranz
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veteran
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veteran
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Absolutely, Juan. Every time I drive up I95 through Philadelphia I feel like taking the Broad Street exit so we can go see the broads.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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There's Possum Path here in Louisville.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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old hand
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old hand
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"Damen" and reminded me that this meant "women" in German .. which in itself would hardly cause a chuckle, if the word were not quite generally used to label ladies "washrooms"
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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used to label ladies "washrooms"
For the men we have rooms labeled Da Men and for the women those labeled Herren. Makes sense to me.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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For the men we have rooms labeled Da Men and for the women those labeled Herren. Makes sense to me.
Clarification - in case anyone else was puzzled - that's "Da Men" as opposed to "Da Wimmin," and "Herren" as opposed to "His'n".
The German words are Herren und Damen for Men and Women (Ladies, if you prefer).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Then there was the time Jack Paar, the penoriginal host of the Tonight Show, came back from a trip to Japan and showed pictures of the restrooms he saw in the Tokyo airport. They were labeled Men and Women in English but the kanji (the Japanese ideographic characters) were the same on each door.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Did he ever indicate what the characters meant? I can envision them both being the equivalent of "Washroom" or "Toilet." Do/did the Japanese have unisex public bathrooms anyway?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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what the characters meant?
He just showed the picture. I was just a young lambkin at the time and certainly don't remember what they were. I always imagined that there was some sort of clue obvious to the Japanese that indicated which was which. Something like the men's room is always on the right.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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This is slightly off-thread, but. Covington, Kentucky proudly boasts a Main Straße. I think that's pretty funny. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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wsieber - Is it also that general use in Germany,?, cuz it wuz why I chuckled...
Clarification - in case anyone else was puzzled - that's "Da Men" as opposed to "Da Wimmin,"...
Datz 'cuz he spent *some time in "my kinda town".
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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*some time in "my kinda town".
Some time? I was born and raised there. Only left to join the Navy.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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re: Do/did the Japanese have unisex public bathrooms anyway?
No.. i didn't see any. most of the baths aren't unisex anymore either. (but i did go to one that was unisex, but my sister and i left as men started to arrive.) at least not in cities.
though nudity in general is not a issue, it is strictly taboo to expose pubic hair, (even women in a womans bath would make sure to have her hands and a wash cloth covering her self in a public bath)
Tokyo has lots of clean public toilets availlable, but none provide tissue. everyone is expected to carry their own. some of the bathrooms have western style facilities, some are old fashioned "holes in the ground" with small platforms for you feet, and a small handhold to on the right side to hold one while you straddle the hole.
it rarely get below freezing, so they toilets are open year round. (they only have cold water for washing your hands-- and no towels or hot air driers..)
i only traveled in cities, so i don't know what things are like in small towns or the country.
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Carpal Tunnel
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one of the main "road" from the LIE to the Southern State on the eastern end of Long Island (the route to the hamptons), has a traffic light on a cross steet--Hot Water Street-- which i always thought was funny.
Stony Brook NY, (home to a SUNY campus) has Blinking Light Street-- it ends at Northern Blvd, and the intersection is marked by a blinking amber light.Duh!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In a previous life I had a customer who was in a fish packing plant in Alaska. The address was End of Country Road. Once on the phone I asked if End of Country was the name of the road. He said that there was only one road out of town and the plant was at the end of it.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Some time? I was born and raised there...
It sounds like 'some time' to me!
------------
We have a trio of special streets here; Paulina, Melvina and Lunt. There's an old joke that explains how they are related... it's on the tip of my tounge... but...
... nevermind.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Kalamazoo has a street named North that runs east/west.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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And Lancaster, UK has a narrow thoroughfare named "Bashful Alley."
Up until ca. 1950, London had an "Of Alley," but the powers-that-be decided to change it to something so boring that I forget what, now.
The story behind the original name is that the Duke of Buckingham, George Villiers, in the late C18, was strapped for cash, so sold of part of his land in London for housing development. Not wishing the fact that it had been his land go unnoticed, he insisted that the streets were named after him. So, we still have, "George Street", Villiers Street", Duke Street" and Buckingham Avenue - "Of Alley" joined the latter two!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Kalamazoo has a street named North that runs east/west.
Well, why not? It couldn't be North for its entire length if it ran north/south, now could it?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Now if it's on the south side of town...
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Now if it's on the south side of town...
...look for further urban expansion any day soon. Its a subtle message from the town planners.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In a related story, Northside Liqurors in Ithaca is on the south side of town, The Corner Bookstore(now defunct) was not on the corner and The Gallery of Fifteen Steps was at ground level. All three had had locations appropriate to their names but moved and didn't change their names.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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With a name like that, I wouldn't change it, either.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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'Our kinda town' has a North Ave. that was (if I remember kerrecktly), at the time of "The Fire", the northern border of the city (which became immediately meaningless when the land stood scorched), and 'til the turn of the 20th century, Western Ave was the western border. There is no east Chicago unless you mean the town East Chicago which isn't actually® east of Chicago and not even in Illinois... which explains why the neighborhood 'South Chicago' is what *we call "The East Side".  edit: beware all you geographical nitpickers, I'm a northsider.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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While not exactly the same, this is a true story, and happened in Fairfax County, Virginia about 25 years ago. The Board of Supervisors controls the county road system, and they wanted to get rid of a certain street, so they passed a resolution calling for the vacation of Andrews Drive (may not have been andrews, just an illustration.)
Two weeks later the Public Works Department proudly erected new street signs for the renamed street:
Vacation of Andrews Drive
TEd
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Vacation of Andrews Drive
Reminds me of street signs I've seen in Cambridge, Mass. Again, not actual names, just for illustration.
Brown St. (formerly Smith St., 1793)
Brought up images of someone who had great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandaddy's address book and sent letters to great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandaddy's friend's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Faldage, I think you've been misled by visions of greatness. My grandfather's great great grandfather (i.e., my great great great great grandfather) fought in the Peninsular War, and according to family legend brought back a Spanish wife.
Bingley
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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misled by visions of greatness
But who's counting?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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What was the Peninsular War, please?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Thanks, Faldage. Mercy me, the world would be a better place if people weren't so greedy.
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Carpal Tunnel
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