Dull, twinned
with Boring.
Do you know the
English word “dull”?
“Dull”
is the opposite of “bright”. Often it means “uninteresting”.
We can talk about
dull weather, which means cloudy weather, probably some rain and certainly no
sunshine.
We
can talk about a dull book or a dull lesson. And we can say that someone is
dull - a dull person is probably not very intelligent, and has nothing
interesting or lively or amusing to say.
There is an English
expression that says: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Do you know
someone who works all the time and never relaxes and never goes out to enjoy
themselves?
And I am sure that
you all know the word “boring”.
It means unexciting
and uninteresting. It is a favorite word for teenagers.
If their parents
suggest something to them, like “Shall we all go to the cinema tonight?”, the
teenager will probably reply “boring”, because when you are 15 years old, any
activity involving your parents is boring.
There is a village in
Scotland
called Dull. It is very small, with only a single row of houses. There is a
church, but it has not been used for several years. There is a school too, but
it is closed. In the past, Dull was quite interesting. It was an early
Christian settlement, and there was an abbey where the church now stands. But
nothing interesting seems to have happened in Dull for several hundred years,
and today Dull seems to be a very dull place indeed.
Elizabeth Lewis lives
in Dull. However, she is obviously not a dull person, because recently she went
for a cycling holiday in America.
And while she was there she discovered a town called Boring. Boring is in Oregon, in the north-west of the United States.
The north west of the United States is a bit like Scotland – lots
of rain, and snow in the winter.
Boring
has about 12,000 inhabitants, which means that it is quite a bit bigger than
Dull. But is it any more interesting? It has a timber mill, and a place
where they train guide dogs for blind people. But the railway line closed years
ago, and I guess that many of the inhabitants of Boring commute to work every
day to the city of Portland,
which is not far away.
Elizabeth had the great idea that Dull and Boring should become
‘twin communities’. There could be a sign outside Dull saying “Dull, twinned
with Boring” and a sign outside Boring saying “Boring, twinned with Dull”.
And
people passing by would smile and think that, even if Boring is boring, and
Dull is dull, people in the two communities at least have a sense of humour.
the
local authorities in Dull and Boring are now considering Elizabeth’s idea.
I don’t want to
spoil a good story for you,
but I have to point out that Dull is not called Dull because it is a dull
place. The name Dull comes from the Scottish Gaelic language, and probably
means “meadow”. Boring is named after an old soldier from the
American Civil War who was called William H Boring.
After the war, he
settled in Oregon, and lived there until he died in 1932. Because William
Boring lived nearby, and was one of the leading citizens of the place, it was
natural for the railway company, and later the US Post Office, to call the
settlement “Boring” in his honour.
Here in Brazil
we have got many interesting cities` names:
I collected some of them: In Rio
Grande do Sul there are 3 cities called by: The Sad-Triangle: Ermo, Sombrio and Turvo. Would you like to pass your next vacation there?
In Minas Gerais there
are Venda Nova, Juiz
de Fora, Carangola(?) and Segredo.
Imagine this question: Where do you leave? You answer: Segredo. Oops!
In Pernambuco, there
are many exotic cities´names like Xique Xique,
Cabobló and, Afogados,
but my favourites are from Paraná, put them together it sounds very very funny:
Ponta Grossa, Rolandia and Pinto Grande. Joke!
