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Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Public Speaking : Places are Funny

Some places are simply funnier than others. Cleveland is funny. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is funny. I live just off Goodluck Road. That's funny. My computer consultant used to live on Easy Street in Temple Hills, Maryland. That's funny. It was hard to find him because people were always stealing the sign, and it's not easy to steal an Easy Street sign.

I guarantee that if you pick up any map that has city or street names on it, within a few seconds, you will find a funny name. If you look at it for a few minutes, you'll find many.

I just picked up my road atlas and opened it to the USA and Canada maps in the front. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, almost jumped off the page and into my word processor. Tuscaloosa, Alabama, wasn't far behind along with Kalamazoo, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; Schenectady, New York; and one of my favorites, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Now, I'm going to open the street map for Lanham, Maryland, where this brilliant article is being created. I told you I live off Goodluck Road and I see that a few blocks away from my house is Elvis Lane in Presley Manor. About a mile away is Lois Lane (I guess Superman visits there regularly) and I recently did some work in Boniwood. That isn't funny to you, but it was a scream around our office because my assistant's name is Bonnie. Humor is literally waiting for you just around the corner!

Besides cities and roads, you have at your disposal an unlimited number of funny names related to restaurants, hotels and stores like Pigly Wigly, Kangaroo Katies, Motel 6, The Colonels Kentucky Fried Chicken, and K Mart.

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