City gossip

Cities have their ebbs and flows, expanding and shrinking as circumstances change.  See this fascinating historical perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2uoqJmJaGo. Beyond size, in a few cases, the name of a city becomes linked with a product or event, rendering both eternally famous or infamous beyond its immediate world importance.

For example, in a few cases, due to historical circumstances, new governments were established in a city and provided that regime with its historical name. In the 20^th century, we have the Vichy Regime from 1940-1944, the “Free French” zone that gradually became a German puppet under its controversial leader, Pierre Laval, who may or may not have tried to maintain French sovereignty. Previously, after World War I, the Germans established the Weimer Republic in the town of Weimer, which lasted until 1933. That was probably the most exciting event in the history of that city. Unfortunately, the rise of Nazi Germany ended those glory days but it was fun while it lasted. Several centuries earlier, from 1309 to 1376, there was the Avignon Papacy where some seven French controlled popes ruled in opposition to the popes in Italy.  There were another series of Avignon popes but that all ended in 1417.  That claim to fame is certainly much interesting than knowing that there was a bridge in Avignon where people danced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJKfxtYAt0s.

Many specific long-forgotten but then important historical events occurred in certain cities.  For instance, there are countless treaties named after cities but nobody but history fanatics actually remembers them. However, some are still engrained in consciousness of specific countries. For example, the Evian Accords ended the Algerian War of Independence in 1962. Likewise, both Brits and Indians (not American) remember the Black Hole of Calcutta. In 1756, the Nawab of Bengal had the chutzpah of imprisoning some 125 Europeans in the local dungeon, known as the Black, Hole, in a cell less than 24 square meters for three days, resulting in the death of 100 of them and leading to the establishment of the British government’s control of India. More recent examples of cities with tragic events with varying atrociousness are the rape of Nanjing in China by the Japanese in 1937, which affected some 200,000-300,000 people, and the American My Lai massacre in Vietnam in 1968, which resulted in between 300 and 500 Vietnamese casualties.  It should be mentioned that, the Geneva Convention, ratified in 1949, “regulates” civilized warfare but its record is marked more by its non-compliance than the opposite. 

On a cheerier note, some foods and cities are married, so to speak. For example, I am a great fan of Manhattan clam chowder, which is made with tomatoes instead of milk, as in New England clam chowder. If you are in Menton, near Monaco, in the correct season, you can eat a Menton lemon, which is edible in its right, not being unpleasantly sour. Some people may consider Jerusalem artichoke, also called a sunroot, a delicacy, but I find it a great way to spend a day or two in the bathroom. For those carnivorous among us, two delicious cuts of beef include a New York strip, cut from the beef short loin with or without bone, and Kansas City strip cut, which a portion of the bone, the top corner of the “T”.

I assume that are many other city references in English and other languages and would love to hear about them. On the other hand, if you found this post awful, you can give me a Bronx cheer, a boo or, in virtual language, a thumb down, which I imagine most New York Knick fans have been giving their team for the last ten years or so. Regardless, most cities would agree with Oscar Wild that “only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about”.

The What, The Where, but the Why?

Objects gain names for many reasons. These range from orders from God, at least according to the Bible, to poor translation (the poor White Rhino is actually grey but is quite wide, relative to its more common cousin).  Sometimes, the location of its source is so identified with the product that the place name becomes the product.  As time passes, if the object is much more famous than its place of birth, its “mother” becomes completely forgotten.

A prime example of this can be seen in clothes. In the winter, women can be seen wearing jerseys and Kashmir sweaters, depending on income of course, without them giving a thought about England and Pakistan/India.  By contrast, the guy wearing the Bermudas and the girl wearing the bikini talking to each other have no thoughts of distant tropical islands except possibly as a great place to go on vacation and get to know each other better.

At the bar, customers sipping cognac, champagne and Porto are enjoying their drinks completely ignoring that it is quite probable that they were produced in distant regions in France and Portugal.  Granted, there is a running dispute whether the latter should refer to the place or type of grape, but the French would insist on the first.  However, here at least, there is a connection between the beverage and its source of production.  By contrast, the patrons at the table swilling their Bronxes and Manhattans justifiably cannot see any connection between the name of their alcoholic concoctions and those boroughs in New York.  For that matter, if the designated driver is drinking coffee in a china cup, does s/he make any connection to the designers of the Great Wall?  It seems doubtful.

The world of cheese is filled with namesakes.  How many people know where Gorgonzola, Edam, Gruyere and Cheshire cheese are made, to name just a few?  To be fair, the answers are Italy, Holland, France, and England.  There is a significantly greater chance that a person has tasted all those cheeses than visited those places.

Occasionally, history seeps down and enters common language, linking obscure localities to complex ideas. If you have had your Waterloo, your game is over. On the other hand, after your Dunquerke, you will rise again, but it may take many marathon sessions to do it.  If you fail, you may get sent to Timbuktu, i.e. very far away.  I strongly suspect that most people could not find any of those locations on a map or even identify in which country they are located.

 Yet, it may not be that important to make the connection.  As long as we understand what item the name represents, the knowledge of its origin, however fascinating, is essentially a matter of intellectual curiosity and pride.  On the other hand, many otherwise forgotten villages owe their fame to their special product.  To quote Mark Twain, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.