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So fact or fiction?

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2023 8:21 am
by Go Vandy!

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2023 8:28 am
by AuricGoldfinger
Fiction. I haven't seen this anywhere else.

Sorta funny, though.

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2023 9:28 am
by Versus75
Next thing you know, some radio game show — let’s say, Truth or Consequences — Will find a town willing to change its name.

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2023 9:32 am
by AuricGoldfinger
Versus75 wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2023 9:28 am Next thing you know, some radio game show — let’s say, Truth or Consequences — Will find a town willing to change its name.
You'll have to explain that one to the youngsters on here, Versus. :)

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2023 11:06 am
by Seadog73
Subway copycat.

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2023 3:17 pm
by commadore
Seadog73 wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2023 11:06 am Subway copycat.
You beat me to it.

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2023 6:31 pm
by historybill
I suppose this is a good time to mention that the Unicoi county town of Erwin was originally called VANDERBILT, because they were trying to get George Vanderbilt to build his big house there.

After George chose Asheville, North Carolina, the town went with Erwin.

True story. I've got the original town announcement that was published in the 1876 Jonesborough newspaper to prove it.

So for a brief moment, there was a place called Vanderbilt, Tennessee.

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2023 8:48 pm
by docdore
erwin....the town that hung an elephant (but that belongs on the circus forum, i guess).

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2023 4:16 pm
by HarpoMarx
I had a Business Law class that had the case where they sentenced an elephant to death for killing its trainer. There was even a picture of the townfolk trying to hang the elephant from a big crane. Crane broke. Go figure. They still killed him. Deterrent to other elephants thinking about murdering someone.

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2023 7:43 pm
by Go Vandy!
...and i thought "elephants are kindly but they're dumb". I must have been misinformed.

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2023 8:10 pm
by geeznotagain
I think the average elephant is probably more intelligent than the average UT fan.

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2023 9:21 pm
by docdore
Go Vandy! wrote: Wed Aug 02, 2023 7:43 pm ...and i thought "elephants are kindly but they're dumb". I must have been misinformed.
i think the trainer had abused mary (the pachyderm) iirc. the hanging was completed in spite of the broken chain....what a gruesome site it must have been.

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2023 1:06 am
by Go Vandy!
Go Vandy! wrote: Wed Aug 02, 2023 7:43 pm "elephants are kindly but they're dumb".
Quote from an obscure Paul Simon song "At the Zoo"

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2023 11:59 pm
by Versus75
historybill wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2023 6:31 pm
After George chose Asheville, North Carolina, the town went with Erwin.
So, did Erwin build a big house there?

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2023 12:02 am
by Versus75
Go Vandy! wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2023 1:06 am
Go Vandy! wrote: Wed Aug 02, 2023 7:43 pm "elephants are kindly but they're dumb".
Quote from an obscure Paul Simon song "At the Zoo"
I knew that. From the “Bookends” album my sister left behind when she went off to college.

“And the zookeeper is very fond of rum.”

Re: So fact or fiction?

Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2023 10:03 am
by FayetteDore
Has this thread turned into a Dangling Conversation? h0404