What Is In A Name?

Rant.  Diatribe.  Polemic.  Screed.  Broadside.  Those are among the nicer appellations given my innocent little posts, my darlings whom I seem unable to kill.  I know that I basically play the one note, so occasionally I attempt to change things up a little.  This is one of those times: just a little fluff, although it, too, will likely have an edge.

In the last week I've spent a month or so driving through much of New York State, a little of Pennsylvania, and into Ohio as far as Cleveland.  On the trip from Rochester to Ossining, on NY Rte. 17, which is actually a nice trip except for the condition of the highway itself, one, especially one with time on his mind, can't help but notice and reflect on place names.

It's always a little surprising to be confronted by the homesickness/dearth of imagination inherent/implicit in the names of places.  Pretty much every state, as "The Simpsons" used to its advantage, has a Springfield.  NY, of course, has Syracuse, Ithaca, Damascus, Rome, Poland, Greece, and on and on: I Heart Stealing Names.  Two names jumped out at me on Rte. 17, though: Fishs Eddy and Deposit.

The former is, as far as I can see, virtually unpronounceable.  I'm sure it's said as though it were spelled or punctuated correctly, like "fishes."  But in order to be said that way, it needs that "e," as in "loaves and...," or "he sleeps with the...."  Of course it could also be made properly possessive, either singularly or plurally, as "Fish's" or "Fishes.'"  I have capitalized that, as I went to high school with and sat in front of for four years in homeroom a girl named Cheryl Fish.  But that's not how the sign read; it was simply "Fishs," which would have to sound like "fishsss,"  a word which I do not believe exists, except perhaps for Gollum..  Let's say you're a resident of that town; you grow up pronouncing it in a proper way, and shrug your shoulders at the anomaly of the spelling, if you're even aware of it.  But if you're the State of New York, don't you want the highway sign to read in a correct and literate manner?  Don't you?  Buy a vowel, or an apostrophe, please.

"Deposit," while seemingly terribly prosaic and unimaginative can at least, perhaps, be explained as the locale of some sort of mineral find: a vein of ore or (yes, I did), as the town is located in a river valley, the site of an enormous amount of gravel.  But one (me) is led to think of possibilities for surrounding communities: "Return," for instance, which could also appear on signs as you exit the town: "Leaving Deposit. Please return."  There's also "Withdrawal," (whose population seems to be decreasing, for some reason) or the northern sections of both "Deposit" and "Return," which of course would be abbreviated as "No. Deposit" and "No. Return."  And, as the town is on a river, you'd dock your boat in a "Deposit slip," or perhaps that's the name of the town's largest employer, a textile mill which makes ladies' undergarments....  I'll stop now.  It's just harmless fun, and it's been a heavy week.

Lots of "Name" songs this week, then, such as


The Naming Of Things                                                        Andrew Bird
Naming Of Parts                                                                  Henry Reed
Before I Knew Your Name                                                  Mark Erelli
Do You Remember The Name                                            Walter Becker
Call Me Names                                                                    Joan Armatrading
Give Me Back My Name                                                     Talking Heads
I Got A Name                                                                       Jim Croce
I Call Your Name                                                                 The Mamas & The Papas
I Took Your Name                                                                R.E.M.
Man Gave Names To All The Animals                                Dylan
Man Named Truth                                                                Monsters Of Folk
My Name Is Buddy                                                              Ry Cooder
My Name Is Jonas                                                                Weezer
What's Your Name                                                                Lynyrd Skynyrd
Where The Streets Have No Name                                       U2
I've Been Everywhere                                                           Jackie Leven
Name Everything                                                                  Steve Tibbetts
Name Of Love                                                                      CSNY
Nameless Song                                                                     Sweet Motha' Child
No Face, No Name, No Number                                          Traffic
No Name Girl                                                                        John Prine
No One Knows My Name                                                    Gillian Welch
Nobody Knows My Name                                                    Rickie Lee Jones
Not In Our Name                                                                  Charlie Haden
River Knows Your Name                                                      John Hiatt
Strange Names                                                                      Steve Forbert
The Street Only Knew Your Name                                       Van Morrison
You Don't Know My Name                                                   The Kinks
You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)                      Fabs
I've Been Everywhere                                                            Johnny Cash

Tuesday, noon till two on WOOL 91.5, wool.fm.

Wherefore art thou, Fishs Eddy?