Speaking of the La Brea pits, Pismu, which we know in the name of the town Pismo Beach, is the Chumash word for tar, so “the Central and South Coast” (as the newscasters used to call it when I lived near the tar-spotted beaches of Santa Barbara) has three languages’ words in place names.
We used baby oil to to clean the tar from our feet after days at the beach in Isla Vista or Goleta.
My other favorite Chumash place name is Malibu, from “humaliwo,” “the surf sounds loudly there.” I need a beach day.
And of course as I soon as I see or hear "Pismo Beach," I must, perforce, think of Bugs Bunny.
I think of Clueless, in which Cher becomes the captain of the Pismo Beach Disaster Relief.
Same.
ALWAYS
Same
We went to Pismo Beach for the first time about five years ago, and Husband Unit got annoyed with me for saying the Bugs Bunny line too many times.
Learned some Bible history one school year when I had a student named Nimrod.
And suddenly I’m wondering how my travel route is going through Albuquerque.
I’m headed there for the first time in my life next month and am thinking the same thing! Along with Ethel Mertz, of course.
Good luck saying the name of the city without that Bugs Bunny twang
And don’t forget to take that left toin.
Last year a friend invited me to tag along when she went to a clam bake that her then boyfriend was working at. When they started bringing massive bowls of clams to the table, all I could think about was Bugs. Well, Bugs and eating clams.
We get a lot of that.