Oooooklahoma, where the wind comes right behind the rain...

Yeah, so like I said, there's a song about a Surrey with a Fringe on Top.

Is that the "wagon" one Big Red was talking about? A Surrey is a wagon. Maybe Big Red was just using Texas-speak and don't know Okie-talk.

(p.s. I admit, I got something wrong about Oklahoma. It's OU Sooners, and OSU Cowboys. What can I say? Like the 105/205 route, this isn't something I've been around for 10 years, and even then didn't attend. Way to go, Admin Chuan(r) for getting it right.)

See, you gotta take the 287 to the 105 till it hits 45...

Awright y'all, I checked my map. Beaumont to Dallas via 105 (not 205 -- what can I say? it's been 10 years since I drove that route).

But I wasn't making up the name of my most memorable town along the way -- Cut & Shoot.

I'll leave the IQ rankings for Pigs, Goats, Horses, and Cows for another post. For now, enjoy some history and stats on Cut & Shoot (taken from here) .

Statistics & Facts

The population of Cut and Shoot is approximately 903 (1990).
The approximate number of families is 337 (1990).

The population of Cut and Shoot was:
1975 - 50
1980 - 809
1990 - 903
2002 - 1,300

The amount of land area in Cut and Shoot is 7.37 sq. kilometers.
The distance from Cut and Shoot to Washington DC is 1221 miles. The distance to the Texas state capital is 143 miles. (as the crow flies)

History & History Related Items

Cut and Shoot history:

This town was named in 1912 after a violent confrontation. Versions of the story may differ, but it is basically about a dispute over the church steeple. There was only one church and when the new steeple was being designed, there were issues over who would be allowed to preach in the new church and also over some land claims by members. When one of the "banned" preachers arrived with his followers to preach, they found the doors locked. The "anti's" also arrived and arguments and name-calling occurred. Both groups had concealed weapons, but they weren't used. At one point, a young boy near the church yelled out, "I am scared! I am going to "cut'' around the corner and "shoot" through the bushes in a minute!" Those who heard him remembered his words and adopted Cut and Shoot as the town's name. Both sides were fined for disturbing the peace and assault and the dispute smoldered between a few of the participants for over a year. In a trial between two of the men, the judge asked where the incident had taken place. The witness replied, "I suppose you would call it the place where they had the cuttin' and shootin' scrape."

Attractions

Cut and Shoot attractions:

NOTED NOTABLES
Roy Harris, Boxer
Overall Record: 31-5 with 9 KO's. Born June 29, 1933, in Cut 'N Shoot, Texas - due to the exposure and notoriety he got from boxing, during the mid-to-late 1950's, he was credited with getting Cut 'N Shoot put on the Texas map. Cut 'N Shoot either built its first or had to build a new post office because of his popularity as a boxer. According to "The Sign," the population today in Cut 'N Shoot is 1,300. He is believed to be the only boxer to become a lawyer after fighting for the world heavyweight title. Roy Harris was a county clerk in Montgomery County for 28 years; began practicing law in 1972 and drew up the papers for Cut 'N Shoot to become incorporated. Roy's office is actually in his house and he has been married 47 years and has six children (four boys, two girls). Five are college graduates.

[Editor's Note: Out of due respect for my neighbors to the South - Both of whom are Real Texans and extremely respectable and considerate -- I've refrained from including the other Cut & Shoot trivia info. ;) You'll have to look that up all on your own. ]

la survie du plus apte

Image: Getty Chuanr Images.

Counting Kilocalories

We still got it right...

Calorie: "the kilocalorie or Calorie (capital 'C') remains in common use for the amount of food energy."

More specifically:

• The small calorie or gram calorie approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 °C. This is about 4.184 joules.

• The large calorie or kilogram calorie approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 °C. This is about 4.184 kJ, and exactly 1000 small calories.

• The mega calorie or ton calorie[citation needed] approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 ton of water by 1 °C. This is about 4.184 MJ, and exactly 1000 large calories.

The difference lies in how much water you are talking about.

Pejoratively Speaking

From Language Weaver:

If you are old enough to have attended elementary school several decades ago, there was a person there called the “janitor” whose job was to maintain the building. At some point, however, the term came to be considered demeaning; it was more polite to call him the “custodian.” Add a few more years of history and now that term is too demeaning. The current polite term is “building manager” or even “building engineer.” Or in New York apartments, "super." Wasn't the old word good enough?

Pejoration, the degeneration of the meaning of a word, is as old as language itself. It happens frequently with words that are used euphemistically to refer to a concept that is disrespected or taboo. In current U.S. culture that includes the names of lower-status jobs. Thus the person driving the trash truck went from “trash collector” through “refuse collector” to “sanitation worker.” “Babysitter” seems to be working its way toward “nanny.”

The history of English provides splendid examples of semantic degeneration. See if you can devise an explanation for the path these words have taken.

* egregious (16th-19th centuries) ‘prominent, outstanding’→ now ‘gross, flagrant’
* officious (16th-20th centuries) ‘dutiful, obliging’ → now ‘pompous, self-important’
* plausible (16th-19th centuries) ‘worthy of applause’ → now ‘believable’
* silly (17th century) ‘weak, helpless’ → (19th century) ‘sickly’ → now ‘foolish’
* toilet ( 17th-19th centuries) ‘cover for a dressing table’ → now ‘privy, john, loo’ – supply your own favorite. This concept is an unquenchable source of new euphemisms.

The degeneration of these terms took place longer ago:

* cnafa (Old English) ‘boy’ → knave ‘unprincipled male person’
* cræftig (Old English) 'strong, skillful' → crafty 'cunning, wily'
* huswif (Anglo-Saxon) ‘housewife’ → hussy ‘an immoral woman’
* idiotis (Greek) ‘private citizen’ → idiot ‘stupid person’ (By the way, this used to be a technical term for a particular class of mental retardation, but that usage is now taboo.)
* lewd (Old English) 'non-ecclesiastical, lay' → 'sexually insinuating'
* libellum (Latin) ‘booklet, note’ → libel ‘defamatory statement’
* notorius (Medieval Latin) ‘well known’ → notorious ‘infamous’
* peirates (Greek) ‘entrepreneur’ → pirate ‘one who preys on others’
* reken (Middle English) 'to emit smoke' → reek 'to stink'
* sinister (Latin) ‘facing to the left’ → sinister ‘ominous’
* vulgaris (Latin) ‘of the people’ → vulgar ‘rude’

"M" Dash

Regardless of your punctuational orientation, an "m" dash to Sequoia should never be avoided... unless, of course, you are fond of the "two-m" dash.

Last Tuesday

What was last Tuesday's winning question?