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Of Slogans and Honey Pots
Submitted by rocketsquirrel on Fri, 2008/06/27 - 11:28am.
This week in MetroPulse, Frank Cagle opines on Knoxville sloganeering, suggesting a rocking chair and "Welcome Home" will do.
Ummm, no.
Ktowndownlow has joined the fray, sponsoring a contest encouraging local hipsters to subtitle our fair city with a hip, insiders-only moniker. (hat tip to Knoxville Talks.)
I took a moment to reflect.
Who can forget such previous slogans as
"Knoxville. It's all around us." (Just not in Knoxville)
"Knoxville. Where Nature and Technology Meet." (images of a deer being splattered on the inside of a superconducting supercollider at the Spallation Neutron Source come to mind with that brilliant juxtaposition.)
"Knoxville. Naturally." (Knoxville is now a name brand laxative?)
Going back another century, Parson Brownlow, pro-Union publisher of the Knoxville Whig, had two slogans for the masthead of his paper: "Cry Aloud and Spare Not," and "Independent in All Things, Neutral in Nothing." These two are just as apt today in Knoxville and Knox County's heated political climate.
Such thoughts reminded me of a conversation I had a few years ago with someone from the State Economic Development Office.
"Memphis is Eeyore," this official described to me. "Woe is Memphis, the sky is falling."
"Nashville, however, is Tigger. Nothing but blue sky in Nashville."
"What about Knoxville?" I asked.
"Knoxville is Pooh," the person continued. "This is my honey pot. You get your own damn honey pot."
Back when I was at Metro Pulse, we ran a "give Knoxville a new nickname" contest. I can't remember what won.
But I do remember a friend of mine called it "the becoming city" because Knoxville never seemed comfortable with itself and was always in the process of trying to be something else. I liked that, in part because the phrase has other interpretations as well.
A friend of mine thought of this one, which I thought was the best ever:
"Knoxville: Where America Stops for Gas!"
Knoxville: Our Weird Is Real.
Back when I was at Metro Pulse, we ran a "give Knoxville a new nickname" contest. I can't remember what won.
But I do remember a friend of mine called it "the becoming city" because Knoxville never seemed comfortable with itself and was always in the process of trying to be something else. I liked that, in part because the phrase has other interpretations as well.
Knoxville: You're not from around here, are you?
oh that's very good, Randy.
I'd shorten it and kick the local flavor up a notch by sayins:
Knoxville: You're not FROM here.
At least that 's the way we always said it
Actually, I always heard it as "Knoxville: where nature and technology stop for gas."
Keeping the Sun Sphere and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in mind, I've always been fond of
Knoxville: This City's Got Balls
Knoxville. The town that makes you go "hmmmm ..."
You could actually shorten that to just "Knoxville. Full of Poo..."
Just sayin'...
_________________________________________________
"You can't fix stupid..." ~ Ron White"
"I never said I wasn't a brat..." ~ Talidapali
~m.
Considering the amounts of raw effluence dumped into Fort Nasty lake every day by the city this is a great slogan.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Hunter S. Thompson
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