Why do cities and towns have names, anyway?

[Oeditpus Rex]

It's so conFUSing. :shrug:

Why don't we just call 'em by their Zip codes or their terrestrial coordinates?

I live in N 36° 57' 9", W 121° 24' 2". How 'bout you? :hi:

[djeseru]

1. To have songs make sense.

The Clash's "London Calling" would have sounded totally different...

:hi:

[LSK]

2. why do you hate America?

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. It's confusing

And frequently redundant.



Plus, it repeats itself.

[pitohui]

4. good lord

could you imagine having to recite a buncha numbers every time you wanted to report a piece of news or gossip

there is a reason hurricanes have names and the reason is that using numbers leads to nothing but errors, misprints, and confusion

now just imagine the towns being called by numbers

yikes, kill me now

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. No worse than this

Sir, we all know the facts of this case; that Sapper Walters, being in possession of expensive military equipment, to wit one Lee Enfield .303 rifle and 72 rounds of ammunition, valued at 140 pounds, three shillings and sixpence, chose instead to use wet towels to take an enemy command post in the area of Basingstoke ...

Basingstoke? Basingstoke in Hampshire?

No, no, no, sir, no.

I see, carry on.

The result of his action was that the enemy ...

Basingstoke where?

Basingstoke Westphalia, sir.

Oh I see. Carry on.

The result of Sapper Walters's action was that the enemy received wet patches upon their trousers and in some cases small red strawberry marks upon their thighs ...

I didn't know there was a Basingstoke in Westphalia.

It's on the map, sir.

What map?

The map of Westphalia as used by the Army, sir.

Well, I've certainly never heard of Basingstoke in Westphalia.

It's a municipal borough sir, 27 miles north-northeast of Southhampton. Its chief manufactures ...

What ... Southhampton in Westphalia?

Yes sir... bricks... clothing. Nearby are remains of Basing House, burned down by Cromwell's cavalry in 1645 ...

Who compiled this map?

Cole Porter, sir.

Cole Porter who wrote "Kiss Me Kate"?

No, alas not, sir. This was Cole Porter who wrote "Anything Goes." Sir, I shall seek to prove that the man before this court ...

It's the same one! "In olden days a glimpse of stocking..."

I beg your pardon, sir?

"In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking, now heaven knows, anything goes."

No, this one's different, sir.

How does it go?

What, sir?

How does your "Anything Goes" go?

Sir, really, this is rather ...

Come on, how does your "Anything Goes" go?

"Anything goes in
Anything goes out
Fish, bananas, old pyjamas,
Mutton, beef and trout
Anything goes in..."

No, that's not it. Carry on.

[HEyHEY]

6. V3H 3M4 RULES!

[Lavender Brown]

7. 'Cause.

:shrug: :dunce:

[ZombieNixon]

8. Because then I would live in almost-almost-hell.

To wit:
My current zip code is 60605, which is one away from 60606. Take the zeros outta that one and you got yourself one beastly number! PTHTBTHBTHB!!

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. You wouldn't take out the zeros

Then it wouldn't be crunchy, would it?

[JVS]

10. See here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x4563273

[B Calm]

11. Do you think our employers wished the workers had numbers instead

of names?

[EstimatedProphet]

12. Uh, they do

http://www.ssa.gov/

[uppityperson]

13. Lived in a place that tried that for a bit for addresses

was way too confusing, everyone ignored the official numbers except rural postal delivery people who hated them since it was a place with windy roads.