Show Low, AZ

For our category of weird town names, such as Linoleumville.

The city's home page.

Their Wikipedia entry, from which we learn:

According to a legend, the city's unusual name[5] resulted from a marathon poker game between Corydon E. Cooley and Marion Clark. The two men were equal partners in a 100,000-acre (400 km2) ranch; however, the partners determined that there was not enough room for both of them in their settlement, and agreed to settle the issue over a game of "Seven Up" (with the winner taking the ranch and the loser leaving).[6] After the game seemed to have no winner in sight, Clark said, "If you can show low, you win." In response, Cooley turned up the deuce of clubs (the lowest possible card) and replied, "Show low it is."[7] As a tribute to the legend, Show Low's main street is named "Deuce of Clubs" in remembrance

Who We Are
Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 07, 2023
Category: Regionalism | Weird Names | Gambling, Casinos, Lotteries and Other Games of Chance | Nineteenth Century | Arizona

Comments

So... if you go there, the town, which is mainly occupied by natives and latinos, pronounces its name as chollo, not show low, and that leads one to a veru different definition for the town name, free from the woo of fairy tale.

Posted by jw on 11/07/23 at 11:13 AM

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.