It seems that the County has granted the wishes of the residents of Coon Hunt Court to have the street name changed. That neighborhood off Thunder Hill Road tends to like animal names with Hound Hill Court and Raccoon Court. This follows last years efforts by residents of Satan Wood Place to have its name changed to what it originally was supposed to be--Satin Place. It is always a little risky to use terms from literature in naming streets. Is Gay Topaz in Owen Brown next? Or Deep Cup (size EEE?)? This is nothing compared to the silly names like Curtsey Court, Possum Court or Greco Garth.
I am fortunate to live on a fairly innocent named street but it still has been unusual enough for people to realize I live in Columbia. A few years ago ordering clothes from LL Bean over the phone I was spelling out my street name and the operator said "Is that Columbia?" I was surprised we were even know by our street names in Maine but she told me she actually worked at a call center in Salisbury and had been to Columbia.
I've read through this post several times, and I can't escape the feeling that your are poking fun of the residents of Coon Hunt Court. Their choosing to change the name of their street wasn't because it was too cute or too weird for them. Your posts are usually so well balanced, but this one has me scratching my head.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't trying to be critical of the residents of the street. In fact if I lived on the street I would have wanted it changed too. My point was that innocent words can have different messages over time. Word connotations change.
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