For the
past month TownDock.net asked:
What's your Caption for this Pamlico County picture?
In a lot
of towns, the water tower is the target for high school grafitti
artists. TownDock readers this month had the chance to virtually
tag the tower right on the edge of town. And a lot of you did
take up the latest “Pamlico Captions” challenge
-- to come up with an appropriate slogan for the currently bare
water tower.
Entries fell in to two categories -- Slogans and Anagrams.
SLOGANS
For slogans, the winner is the entry that would resonate with
anyone who stepped on to our soggy land mass this summer.
HIGH WATER
John Collier
sv "shirtail", Boonedocks
Second place went to an entry that captured the essence of Oriental:
Great place to live, but man does the water leave a funky taste
in the mouth..
Oriental --
Hard Water
Easy Living
-- Barbara Pilcher of Minnesott Beach
It must
be something in the water.
- Jacksie Pitts
Steven Drew suggested the name and logo of NSA's Newsletter
be slapped on the tower:
The Neuse Juice
Steven D. Drew, Greensboro
(Skeptics are still not convinced
that’ll make the water taste any sweeter. But now that
we have his attention, maybe Steven --who is the Water Supply
Manager for the City of Greensboro --can help us out in that
dept too!)
Don Corley wasn’t
as concerned about taste …
Stand back, Ma, I'm gonna flush !
Susan Conley suggested we paint slogans on both sides of the
tower. Coming in to town: Got Water?
On the side you see going out: Sea Ya
(Got
Water? was also suggested by Ray Reilly of Hopewell
Jct, NY)
Water,
water everywhere... and it's all for SAIL!
Oriental For The Sail Of The Sensory!
-- Don Southwick - Merritt & Beach Haven, NJ
"Straight
From The River"
-- David Grunwaldt
“Do not fear; we come in peace."
Carolyn Fenton, now teaching at Moberly Community College in
Missouri, grew up in Pamlico County, apparently on a diet of
sci fi films. As she explains, “The photo of the tower
reminds me of the space ships in those old 50's alien invasion
movies in which the aliens often delivered similar offers of
friendship to earthlings. Plus, considering the recent influx
into Oriental and surrounding area of people non-native to the
area, the line just seems to fit both situations.”
Some entries saw an opportunity to put Oriental on the map:
Oriental, Where the East is in the West.
--- Jeremy Schrauf, West Wardsboro, VT
ORIENTAL, WEST OF SUEZ.
---Per & Marian Erichsen, who now live in Marlton, NJ but
hope to be in Oriental next year.
The
Neuse Starts Here
-- Jonathan Evans, Raleigh
(well, actually Jonathon, the Neuse starts north of Raleigh
and ends in Oriental. That’s why we get a little touchy
here about Raleigh’s water-treatment plants…)
ONC
Dragon Country
---Harvey Hardison
Welcome to the "O" ZONE
--- Gordon Pickett
Oriental - The Pearl of Pamlico
--- Daniel and Adirenne Johnston
ORIENTAL - Where "Small Town" suits us
JUST fine!
---- Kathie Bogue
ANAGRAM CATEGORY
Of course, we could simply put the word ORIENTAL up there on
the tower in moveable letters so that we could rearrange them
to form another word or phrase. Several entrants took up the
anagram challenge..
Charley Bratton of Raleigh gave us a lot of options and some
explanations:
Inlet Oar (the next propulsion device
after the wind and gas are exhausted.I did this from Adams Creek
one night)
Into Real (ask Coldwell Banker)
Loin Rate (more apropos for Jacksonville?)
Nail Tore (what happens when my girlfriend
comes racing)
Rail Tone (the abs exercise for movable
ballast invited along for a race)
Lie An' Rot (Bock's Marine? - please
don't sue me, I meant Lay-an-Rot)
O Latrine (other side of the river)
But Charley adds, “the only anagram I found that reminds
me of what I like to do in Oriental:” Rot
In Ale
Rick Terwilliger
had some anagrams, too.
Something to hint at the general, laid-back work ethic?
EARN = TOIL
Or your own private town sponsor?
NITRO ALE
---
From
Michael R. Foster, Public Radio East in New Bern:
This may only be accurate this summer:
"lot 'e rain" or "rain
'e lot".
Since it used to be the terminus for Fairfield Harbor Yacht
Club’s "Oar Race", then "Oar
Inlet" would be appropriate.
In answer to all the stories told at the Bean I suppose you
could go with "Aint Lore"
----
Bob
High in Durham writes that he just found TownDock.net. While
some of these anagrams were suggested before, Bob has his own
unique ones:
A LIER NOT
RELATION
TRAIL ONE
...and one that some of your merchants might not appreciate:
NO RETAIL
...and one that your kayakers might...
OAR INLET
...and lastly, a my personal favorite and a real eyecatcher
for any water tower:
ALIEN ROT
--Bob High Durham, NC
Thank you for submitting so many odd and wonderful captions.
Captions and Pamlico Poetry are always welcome at captions@towndock.net
Previous Pamlico Captions
TownDock.net
readers have some brilliant creative minds - check out previous
Captions winners:
May 2003 - "The Tubs"
February 2003 - "The
Pain Store"
December 2002 - "Chimney
Santa"
November 2002 - "Buc"
October 2002 - "Telephone
Booth"
September 2002 - "$1,000
FIRM"