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A Few Weird Things About Louisville, Kentucky

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic (by 2 people)   Your rating: 1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic

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Rated G. (Control what you see)

A Neo-Freudian Urban Mythology

 

Louisville, Kentucky was named after King Louis XVI of France, in honor of the assistance he provided to the American colonies during the War for Independence.  Thus, the name of the city is properly pronounced Louie-ville, the same as if it had been named after Donald Duck's third nephew.  The actual pronunciation of the name is Loo-ah-vull, but much more slurred then the written word can do justice.  Out-of-towners take note.  If you pronounce the name Louis-(with an audible 's')-ville, you will be recognized immediately as a damn Yankee.  If you pronounce it Louie-(with a long 'e')-ville you will be spotted as a damn educated Yankee, which is worse.

The official symbol for the City of Louisville is the fleur de lis, which was the symbol for French royalty.  The academic debate seems to be whether the fleur de lis symbolizes an actual lily, or maybe an iris, or perhaps it might represent the Christian Holy Trinity. See: Wikipedia  Anyone with a lick of common sense and any knowledge at all of French royalty understands that the fleur de lis is a phallic symbol.  

With this understanding of Louisville's basic symbology and archtype, many other things about the city make more sense.

 

Just the Facts - Mostly 

Insiders' Guide to Louisville, Kentucky & Southern Indiana, 2nd

Amazon Price: $12.44 (as of 07/25/2008)

The Encyclopedia of Louisville

Amazon Price: $29.16 (as of 07/25/2008)

Big Sticks 

The Original Big Stick



President Theodore Roosevelt famously quoted an African proverb, "speak softly and carry a big stick," as an articulation of American foreign policy. Some years later Edward North Buxton and a group of British zoologists gave Roosevelt a Holland & Holland, English made, double-barreled .450 elephant gun in anticipation of Roosevelt's planned safari to Africa. This was the most powerful rifle Teddy ever owned, and he affectionately referred to it as his "big stick."

This rifle is part of the permanent collection at The Frasier International History Museum in Louisville.

The story of Roosevelt's later disaster plagued South American Amazon jungle expedition is excellently told in the recently published The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard.



The Homegrown Stick is Bigger



The Hillerich & Bradsby Co. of Louisville makes the official bat for Major League Baseball. J. Frederick Hillerich, a German immigrant, and his sons made their first baseball bat here in 1884. The company's most famous brand name is Louisville Slugger.

This is a photo of the Louisville Slugger Museum in downtown Louisville. That big stick speaks for itself.

If you can't visit the Slugger Museum in person, you can read about the history of the Louisville Slugger in Bob Hill's Crack of the Bat: The Louisville Slugger Story.

Big Shots 

A Big Wet Shot




Local media magnate and big shot Barry Bingham, Sr., owner of two Louisville daily newspapers along with local radio and television stations, was the moving force behind the Louisville Ohio River Falls fountain. The fountain was dedicated and went into service five days after Mr. Bingham's death in August 1988.

Squirting 15,800 gallons of water per minute 420 feet into the air, the fountain operated for ten years until unanticipated maintenance expenses exhausted available funding. The fountain was sold for scrap.

The Biggest Shot of All Time




Although it took a long time for Muhammad Ali's home town to give him the recognition and appreciation he earned, the non-profit Muhammad Ali Center was opened to the public in November, 2005. Along with the expected boxing memorabilia, the Ali Center focuses on Ali's post-boxing work as a global humanitarian, and the core values of peace, social responsibility, respect, and personal growth. Muhammad Ali, along with Peter Arnell, recently introduced a line of healthy snack foods, called G.O.A.T. Food (Greatest Of All Time). It remains to be seen how well the signature shapes of G.O.A.T. Food will fly.

The image above is a composite of the Muhammad Ali Center logo, a photo of the east side of the Center's building on the riverfront in Louisville, and a detail from one of Leroy Neiman's paintings of an Ali fight. I just found The LeRoy Neiman Sketchbook: 1964 Liston vs. Clay - 1965 Ali vs. Liston, and it is the most expensive new book I have ever seen, on Amazon.com or anywhere else. It is 220 pages and costs $3,750 for a new copy. That's, uh, $17.05 per page. Wow.

Great Muhammad Ali Stuff on eBay 

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Big Nuts 


Nutty Names

Everyone knows about about the Kentucky Derby run at Churchill Downs in Louisville each year, but you may not have heard of the brew a local entrepreneur named Gerard Russell cooked up for the tourists. Horse Piss Beer is not the first, or even the best, example of adolescent humor trumping good marketing sense. If Gerard wants to sell a novelty tourist souvenir, he should just sell the bottles and forget about the beer, which isn't even brewed in Kentucky. It is brewed in Wisconsin.


Gonzo Nutz and Back Again


Louisville, Kentucky was the foaling spot and psychological training ground for Mr. Gonzo himself, Hunter S. "Big Nutz" Thompson.

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tomwfox

About tomwfox

My blog - The Learning Curve

Former lawyer, turned computer retailer and technician, turned native American flute maker, turned graphic designer, and web nut.  I delight in cats, raccoons, bluejays, dragonflies, and nature.  And books too. Coffee is essential, but nothing else that is too complicated or contradictory.

I once fooled a psychiatrist into thinking that I had adult attention deficit disorder. Go figure.

I grew up on the north side of the Ohio River in Southern Indiana, but I have lived on the south side of the river in Louisville, Kentucky for some time now.    

 

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