October 28, 2021

Double Dippers

By roadsrus

There are many places in the world that double their names. For lack of a better term, they are often called double dippers. For example, there are 3 towns in the US called Paw Paw. They are in the states of Illinois, West Virginia, and Michigan. The largest Paw Paw is in Michigan and is home to about 3,000 people. The paw paw is a tree that produces an edible fruit. My brother-in-law Joe, who has a rural background, was shocked when I knew the name of the paw paw fruit. I don’t especially like their taste, but they are found in 26 states and are full of fruity nutrition.

My favorite double dipper is Blup Blup. Blup Blup which is fun to say, is an island off the coast of New Guinea with a small population. Blup has several meanings. A blup can be an island with an active volcano on it, two men kissing, a term used in animal breeding, and several other things.

Double dippers are mostly geographic. They are caused by localized language grammatical rules and are widely used around the world in many cultures, many of which are Asian. I became more familiar with them after visiting the South Pacific. Pago Pago is the territorial capital of American Samoa. Bora Bora is an atoll north of Tahiti and a very popular resort.

I have been to at least 4 double dippers: Walla Walla, Wagga Wagga, and New York City are 3 of them. Other double dippers include Bella Bella and Baden-Baden in Germany. Bella Bella is a First Nation Canadian village on the East Coast of Campbell Island in British Columbia. Baden-Baden is a spa town close to France known for its thermal baths. It became a thriving resort town and gambling center in the late 19th century. Its population is now about 60,000. Walla Walla in Washington wine country is a frequent summer travel stop for Ruth and me. We love it there, and I once drove through a dust storm and, exhausted, I spent the night in Walla Walla. Wagga Wagga is a farming town in the Riverina area of New South Wales in Australia. It’s the 9th largest inland city Down Under with a population very similar to Walla Walla. It’s on the important Murrumbidgee River so water sports are popular. In fact, its a sports-minded town that has been home to many famous Australians. Wagga means crow in the native Aboriginal language, so doubling it means “place of many crows”.

The Paw Paw is the largest edible fruit that is native to the USA. Some say its taste is tropical, but I think its taste is more like custard, I would not call it a favorite fruit of mine.

Hank

About roadsrus

Since the beginning, I've had to avoid writing about the downside of travel in order to sell more than 100 articles. Just because something negative happened doesn't mean your trip was ruined. But tell that to publishers who are into 5-star cruise and tropical beach fantasies. I want to tell what happened on my way to the beach, and it may not have been all that pleasant. My number one rule of the road is...today's disaster is tomorrow's great story. My travel experiences have appeared in about twenty magazines and newspapers. I've been in all 50 states more than once and more than 50 countries. Ruth and I love to travel internationally--Japan, Canada, China, Argentina, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, etc. Within the next 2 years we will have visited all of the European countries. But our favorite destination is Australia. Ruth and I have been there 9 times. I've written a book about Australia's Outback, ALONE NEAR ALICE, which is available through both Amazon & Barnes & Noble. My first fictional work, MOVING FORWARD, GETTING NOWHERE, has recently been posted on Amazon. It's a contemporary, hopefully funny re-telling of The Odyssey. View all posts by roadsrus
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