Writes Rabble in the comments at the NYT article, "Land Snorkeling? Townsizing? A User’s Guide to the Latest Travel Lingo. Here are eight terms, some brand-new, others recently resurfaced, that match today’s travel trends."
As you will suspect from Rabble's comment and even without it, the 8 terms the NYT has found are pretty dumb. "Townsizing" is going to a town instead of a big city. "Land snorkeling" is walking about looking at various things. I approve of these practices, and if a cute word encourages anybody, fine.
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If you have to read a newpaper article to do this, or "forest bath", you're too late to the party to revive your natural instincts. Guess what? Working is good for you too. You really can have too much. You silly heads.
Is there a cute term for closely examining your lawn and removing dandelions and other unwanted broadleaf plants? That's what I've been into. No pointless perambulation between randomly chosen points for me. The unexamined lawn is not worth leaving.
Is there a cute term for pitching a tent on a city sidewalk, panhandling and doing fentanyl?
New Tag suggestion: TMFTOTH (Too Much Free Time On Their Hands).
Sounds like they may have reinvented the surrealist's déambulations.
I used to love taking the old two lane highways and frontage roads. I wasn't in a big hurry. Old roads between Nevada and eastern California. Even old 99 in the Central Valley CA is enjoyable.
I would love to take old hwy 6 all the way to Boston but as an old woman alone now it feels kinda dicey.
William Least Heat-Moon covered it best in his book "Blue Highways".
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Highways-Journey-into-America/dp/0316353299
"I would love to take old hwy 6 all the way to Boston but as an old woman alone now it feels kinda dicey."
Ah yes, the escape route for the "Great Brinks Robbery."
I assume that NYT commenters have condemned “map-a-loopy” as a wasteful use of gasoline which contributes to “climate change.”
A regular hobby of mine since my first VW van in the late 1960's was driving two lane roads everywhere: from Florida to California, Nova Scotia, Costa Rica, Baja Peninsula, Wisconsin, Outer Banks, and so on, and so forth. Way off the four lane grid we great people who became lifelong friends - Richard and Janine and sailboats in Nova Scotia, Hector and Marianna who gave us croaker sack of live lobster for children's shoes and peanut butter in Baja, Sur. My favorite phrase has always been "No tourists ever come here here my friend". On Surfari to stay.
What if the cute word discourages people from doing these commendable (or at least refreshingly normal) things?
Why are some people (I'm trying to avoid a fifty-third mention of "why is the left"*) so into messing with language? Sometimes it's pretty harmless. But sometimes it's a component of brainwashing.
(Look at that - answered my own question.)
*Yes, I know it's not JUST the left. But it certainly seems as if the great bulk of the neologisms, to say nothing of the radical redefinition of words that have had a clear and settled meaning for centuries, emanates from that side.
My wife and I, early in our courtship and marriage, would not consider it a really good road trip unless we spent part of it on a gravel road, preferably as night was falling, with rain and miles to go before we got where we were going. Those gray dashed lines on the map back then, in places like Wyoming and Montana and Idaho, were just irresistable to us.
Our first example of this was in Custer Gallatin National Forest. I had to stop at twilight to see what was behind a bush along the rutted roadside. While back there, in the rain with night falling and pants down, I noticed the local buffalo herd ambling toward me to see what was up, or rather, down, which was my pants. Squatting there and hearing my beloved one laughing uncontrollably from the safe confines of our vehicle is a sound I clearly recall even now, 40 years later.
Are those cute travel terms?
It feels more like journalists are floating trial balloons to verify that they can still influence culture. The words denote traditional concepts that already have descriptors, like "take the road less traveled" or an "out-of-the-way destination".
If words are meant to communicate, then these new non-intuitive words are meant to communicate that you are the type of person who reads the NYT to keep up on the current lexicon. At least "rawdogging" is left off the list.
When I was a kid my parents would take us on a Sunday drive. Apparently that term is now passé.
About ten years ago we took a trip to Virginia to visit relatives. (Background: I used to dream of driving on a country road that went from pavement, to one lane, to gravel, and then ended up in a farmer's field.) Hubby decided to avoid the toll road, so we took a parallel road to our destination. The road went from pavement, got narrower, then changed to gravel and was almost just one lane. We were laughing so hard until we finally came upon a "normal" road again. (Actually, I was creeped out just a little bit.)
Route 6 in PA is beautiful, BTW.
I assume that NYT commenters have condemned “map-a-loopy” as a wasteful use of gasoline which contributes to “climate change.”
Not if progressives enjoy doing it. Then it's different.
I'm not a google maps user, but I understand what you can do with it. It gives you the quickest route to your destination. If you don't like the choice, drag the line around for alternate roads. You can pick out whatever tertiary journey your heart desires.
that a perfectly cromulent word
"Land snorkeling" is walking about looking at various things.
"Land Snorkeling"? Maybe in one of those small towns. But in certain parts of large, blue cities, it's more like "Land Scuba Diving."
"Another great activity where your main goal is to... NOT DIE."
- Jerry Seinfeld
True happiness is tooling a virgin route.
If you always know where you are, you aren't really traveling.
When I was still working in Miami, I would sometimes imagine a month-long road trip all the way up to Chicago on the Dixie Highway and back, the same road Al Capone would take to his mansion here on Palm Island. A leisurely trip, stopping when and where I wanted.
I never did it, but still may someday.
Whenever I first move somewhere I'll meander about all the nearby roads to see what's there. A useful thing to know in ruralville when roads may unexpectedly be closed by fire police or accident and you're shunted off into a detour.
If you're travelling a long distance diagonally instead or NS or EW- you may find that travelling the backroads is faster, or at least the same time, as sticking to the major highways. You'll have to pay attention to speed limits, and speed up and slow down and have traffic lights and stop signs, but cutting off a bunch of miles makes the route faster.
One thing I'm constantly surprised at travelling back roads is how many fairly large businesses are located in the middle of nowhere. Not retail type, but businesses that make, produce, or process things. Within 50 miles we have a major vinegar plant and food canning plant- nowhere near major roads. I would not want to live next door to the vinegar plant.
"You'll have to pay attention to speed limits..."
From 11 Insanely Corrupt Speed-Trap Towns
In 2017, the News reported that Castleberry, Alabama, with a population of about 500, was generating revenue through what amounted to highway robbery. More than a dozen lawsuits claimed that Castleberry officers illegally arrested and searched motorists, seizing their cash and cars without filing charges or even paperwork.
Be careful on those back roads.
"Get a real paper map" - The on-demand generation might consider this to be like reading hieroglyphics.
Get a map of the Indian trails and match them to the roads and then follow the road. Many such trails became the first colonial roads and were used until heavy trucks made moving the road onto harder strata necessary or heavy equipment made straightening out the road possible. But those old roads go through a lot of history - old industries (logging, textiles, brewing), old battlefields, beautiful small towns, Indian Nations. George Washington used to ride down Rt.15 in Loudoun County from Valley Forge; Jefferson used it; Stonewall Jackson marched up it and Lee went up it going to Antietam. Part of Hooker's Army went up it going to Gettysburg. Now the parents fighting the school boards of Loudoun ride up it to do battle in the various schools which are on it.
I never travel a significant distance without an atlas. Which I use to find alternative ways to any particular destination. And I don't have a cutesy name for it, it's simply a 'scenic route.' Even if it turns out to be not all that scenic.
I've been doing "land snorkeling" since I was a teenager. It's very fun but sometimes people don't like it, they think you're casing houses or something like that. The state park/forest I usually go hiking in it's also just as fun to hike on the back roads going in and out of it as it is on the trails. Met some interesting people living out in the boonies that way. Never got accused of being up to something nefarious walking around out there, unlike in town.
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