I focused on towns named Welcome in a recent article here on Twelve Mile Circle, with specific attention to a sign outside of one in particular located in North Carolina: Welcome to Welcome. I wondered if other towns could cobble together similar symmetries at their city limits. All I could envision at the time was the possibility of an Amble to Amble, Michigan.
I offered readers an opportunity to add to my tiny the list. I didn’t have any takers, and I think I’ve figured out the reason. It’s really difficult. Seriously. It’s a total pain. Nonetheless I challenged myself and I found a few more. Local Chambers of Commerce should feel welcome to adopt any of these if so inclined. I claim no ownership or trademark.
How about Fly to Fly, Ohio or Ferry to Ferry, Michigan? Those would be great but Fly doesn’t appear have an airport and Ferry is a good twenty miles from the nearest body of water.
Portal to Portal
Portal is a different story. There are a couple of great Portals so anyone can to take the portal to Portal.
The portal into the town of Portal in North Dakota (map) is North Portal, Saskatchewan, Canada. It really is a portal, and it’s one of the few 24 hour per day international crossings along this stretch of the border. I found references to an international golf course there — supposedly the ninth hole crossed the border into Canada — but I couldn’t see it in the satellite photo. Is it possible that this anomaly is another victim of 9-11?
I also enjoyed the Portal in Georgia. It’s another instance of an unusual circular towns one sometimes finds scattered down there.
Fry in Fry
I began to look for other prepositions having exhausted the blank to blank construct. Is preposition the correct description? I mean words like in, beside, into, within, among and the like. Someone call the grammar police and interpret the rule for me, please. I was always terrible at grammar.
I know it’s supposed to be windy in Chicago, but is it Windy in Windy, Kentucky? If you were shy and lacked confidence, would you Blossom in Blossom, Texas? Should you be good in Good, West Virginia? And will you find Bliss in Bliss, Idaho?
I don’t know if any of those will ever happen but I guarantee that someone can Fry in Fry, Arizona. That’s a neighborhood in Sierra Vista near Fort Huachuca. I’ve been to Fort Huachuca during the summer months and I can attest that this desert outpost can get pretty hot. I think Fry deserves an award for truth in advertising.
Sleepy Eye in Sleepy Eye?
Maybe someday I’ll have an opportunity to Glide into Glide, Oregon or shout Eureka within Eureka, California.
The strangest one I found, and probably stretching the game to the breaking point, is Sleepy eye in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota (map). This is a real place with almost 4,000 residents apparently named for a Native American with droopy eyelids back in the Nineteenth Century.
I ignored worn-out examples like Climax, North Carolina, Intercourse, Pennsylvania, or Blue Ball, Pennsylvania. I run a wholesome website, here. Let’s get our minds out of the gutter.
Anyone else care to find other blanks-to-blanks, or try other preposition? Examples outside of the United States would be particularly welcome.
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