Nom-Du-Luths
By Adam Carr on Jan 13, 2012 in Where in Duluth?
The other day, I heard somebody refer to Duluth in passing as “the back of beyond.” Nothing official, or even a phrase restricted to Duluth for that matter, but I really liked it. What are some other official and unofficial ways you use to describe the Duluth? Little turns of phrase, short descriptions, or casual nicknames are great. As far as I’m concerned, the more personal the better.
Also, the January in Duluth project is buzzing along, including a piece of mythological short fiction that links Prometheus and the unseasonably warm weather of the first couple January weeks.
Norwegian Riviera. Pauper’s Paradise. San Francisco of Minnesota. The Big Unsexy. Paris of the North. A chance for foreign sailors to kiss the ground, piss and shag. No Mans Land. A good place to have an old fashioned, love/hate relationship with your city.
Does anyone know how close we are to engineering a Superior friendly Beluga Whale?
I sometimes describe Duluth as a city on the edge of the universe.
Also, feel to make up a totally new one if you’re so inclined.
Duluth is like heaven — without all that messy, being dead shit.
San Fran of the Northland! I agree!
Zenith City….
Duluth is more like the Seattle of the Midwest to me than San Francisco, b/c Seattle has its gritty pockets, as well as the extreme wealth. I know SF does too, but it’s different…
The Liberal Slant
San Fransisco is the Duluth of the West.
In the movie FAR NORTH, actor Charles Durning refers to Duluth as “…this Christless country”.
I’ve posted this here before but since you’re new to Duluth this movie compilation may amuse you and give some insight into how the outside world sometimes views the Zenith City.
The Air-conditioned City.
Greater Ashland.
Outer Proctor.
The Two County Metro Area.
I’m surprised Big E hasn’t chimed in with
“Ice Station Zebra”
with which he frequently refers to Duluth.
Nordic Hell.
Land of Incompetent Pizza.
How about “home”?
Aside from telling friends I live next to the unsalted sea Lake Superior I borrow from the popular TV show Northern Exposure and the character Maurice Minefield’s description of that fictional city as the “Riviera of the North.” It fits Duluth quite well.
End of the road.
I call Ely the end of the road, not Duluth. I also sometimes say, “Duluuuuuuth” when people ask me where I live.
Zenith City
PDD’s Fairy Research Spy notes that the Duluth News Tribune held a contest in 1910 to nickname Duluth and Superior.
The Two Chocolate Drops?
Here’s the continuation. How does “The Siamese of the Great Lakes” grab you? Lakes Twins? The Iron and Wheat Cities? The Mint Cities?
For fans of the long in limbo Dusu website, two suggestions above are “Dusuport” and “Dusuwinnie.”
DaLoot
That is an interesting list at the end of the article. I’ve got to love Mrs. Merriam’s suggestion of “Duluth and Superior.”
I believe the culturally correct term would be “the conjoined twins of the Great Lakes.”
A Beautiful City on the hill with an unfortunate view of Superior.
One that I kind of hate is “D-Town.”
D-Town… I hate ‘Sup-town’, or worse, ‘soup town’. You never know how people picture it being spelled when they say it, though (assuming they’re literate).
Why is that everything good happened in 1910?
Gild spelled it Süptown.
I suppose this is a good place to trot out this juvenile list from 2003:
Duluth | Dull-youth
Superior | Inferior
Superior | Siberior
NorShor Theatre | Norse Whore Theatre
Center for Personal Fitness | Center for Personal Fatness
Fond du Luth Casino | Fondle-youth Casino
Electric Fetus | Electric Penis
The Lamplighter | The Limplifter
Anchor Bar | Wanker Bar
Androy Hotel | Android Hotel
The Capri | The Crapi
The Capri | The Debris
The Reef | The Queef
The Palace | The Phallus
I like John W. Butt’s suggestion for Duluth and Superior from Paul’s article: “The Quick and the Dead.” “The Terminal Cities” is my second favorite. DVCB, your work is done.
That should be DCVB (Duluth Convention and Visitors Bureau).
Call it anything but the “Northland.”
Bewildered Superiorites in the 1860s wondered who would ever want to build a city on “that pile of rocks” and called Duluthians “cliff dwellers.”
Up until 1873, Duluth was known often as “Jay Cooke’s Town” because most everything in Duluth was financed by the Philadelphia banker. That also prompted the nickname “Philadelphia of the West.” (Duluth’s St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, named for Cooke’s family church in Pennsylvania, was called “Jay Cooke’s Church.”)
Later West Duluth was considered “New Pittsburgh” or “Pittsburgh of the West” because of its promise as a center for metal fabrication.
And due to the fact that Duluth is roughly three miles wide and 27 miles long and curves along the St. Louis River, it once shared “Crescent City” with New Orleans. In the 1905 “Mataafa Storm,” a bulk carrier named the Crescent City (letters on its stern read “Crescent City of Duluth.) She ran aground two miles east of Lester Park; the entire crew took a ladder to safety.
Shane, glad you mentioned “Air Conditioned City.” It has been in use since at least the 1930s: I have a linen postcard featuring the slogan.
My favorite is still Dr. Thomas Foster’s 1866 “Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas.”
Surprised this isn’t mentioned here already, but, of course:
The Twin Ports is one of the standards.
Also, Mr. Milwaukee, you do realize you need to do a post on Christopher Bjerkness, don’t you?
Outer Proctor!!!!! Proctor is funny on its own, but Outer Proctor is so perfect. No offense intended toward Proctor-ites.
Procterologist?
Exactly.
An alternative to “Zenith City” occurred to me this morning. “The Sylvania Super-Set.” Now available in handsome pine-like cabinetry and iron accents.
The etymology fits surprisingly well. Sylvan: forest, woods. Super: superior. Set: association of persons.
“We may not be the biggest, but a lot of people think we have the best picture.”
+1 Hayburn…and that it takes three months to warm up.
“Just-like-Milwaukee, with 1/10th the population and things to do.”
But yeah, “Ice Station Zebra.”
I wish I were still a hillsider so I could change that to cliff dweller.
Does anyone else feel like this thread should be called Noms-du-Luth? There should be a deli called Noms-du-Luth.
So when did people start saying “Twin Ports”?
24 years ago Paul Metsa called it ‘Tilt-town’.
You’re allowed to give anyone who says “Northland” a titty twister.
I suppose it’s time to announce the winner of the 1910 contest. Bluenewt, here’s your answer.
And here’s the first recognition of “Twin Ports” outside the Twin Ports:
I am from Omaha…lived there for 19 years.
I now live in the Twin Ports--for the last 20 years.
Surely there is a new and official Nom-Du-luth to honor someone such as myself.
EMMADOGSVILLE
Just sayin’.
Got another one for you, Adam:
In his 1897 book, “Following the Equator,” Mark Twain mocks Duluth as a maritime city because it is thousands of miles from sea (long before the St. Lawrence Seaway opened), he called Duluth “mistress of the commercial marine of the U.S.A” and “American queen of the alien seas!”
“Paris of the North” always seems weird to me. Paris is farther north than Duluth.
The far-western port on the largest inland sea
I used to call it “The San Francisco of the North.”