| For all I know, Main
Street in Fredericksburg is the widest in the nation. It was so
broad, I had to make a point of remembering why I was crossing to keep
from forgetting by the time I reached the
other side. And it was broad not for a few blocks but for two miles.
Settlers from the compacted villages of the Rhine Valley laid Main out
to enable ox carts to turn around in it. A shopkeeper explained:
"We don't say somebody's dumb as an ox anymore because we've forgotten
how dumb that is. We say a guy's a 'dumbass,' although I doubt we
know how dumb that is either. Be that as it may, you can't teach
an ox to back up. You can teach a horse to back up, but forget an
ox. Main Street's wide because
an ox is stupid."
Willam Least Heat-Moon 1983, pp.144-45 |