It was back in the horse and buggy days, and one of New Orleans' finest was walking his beat in the Business Section (the old American section) when he saw a dead horse curbside on Tchoupitoulas Street. Immediately he pulled out his notepad and tried to write that fact on it. Unfortunately, the task was hard because some kids stole the nearby street signs.
He started: 'C-H-A-P-A-T-W-O'....but sensed that it was wrong.
So he tried again: 'C-H-O-P-I-T-O-O-L-I-T-Z.' But that didn't look right, either.
So, one more time: "C-H-A-P-I-T-O-O-L-E-T'S.' But that didn't look right also.
Finally, he just thought, "To hell with it." And dragged the dead horse up a block to Camp Street.
[Tchoupitoulas is pronounced roughly "Chop-a-too-lus."]
An old street sign:
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9 comments:
haha. good joke!
One of my favorite streets of NO, just because of the name.
I'd be curious to go down the street just because of the name to see who lived there! Fun story.
Bwahahahaha....
That name looks like Incan or Aztec. There's got to be a backstory.
A great story!
You could probably write a book on the variations of the spelling of the street name on UPS packages.
yes, but can you say Kalanianaole?
( '>
/))
//""
ALOHA from Honolulu,
ComfortSpiral
=^..^=
That's a clever story!
When New Orleanians tell the joke, the punchline is "and dragged the dead horse up a block to Magazine Street" -- which makes sense, because Magazine is in fact one block from Tchoupitoulas, whereas Camp is two blocks. CBS journalist Charles Kuralt may have been the source of the error, according to this neat little essay:
http://www.neworleansbar.org/uploads/files/WhatsinaName.7-13_001.pdf
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