Just over a few hills from where I live is Loudon County. There are two roadsigns on Highway 411 that I pass everyday...one on the southbound side (LOUDON COUNTY) and one going northbound (LOUDON COUNTY). The City of Loudon is found northwest of here and is,as you would expect, in Loudon County.
It is pronounced "Loud - un"....just like you would say a kid yelling at the top of his lungs is a "Loud 'un!" Our electric power comes from Fort Loudoun ELECTRIC, which is associated with Fort Loudoun DAM. The Fort Loudoun DAM is downstream from us on the Little Tennessee River....where it meets up with the Tennessee River. Fort Loudoun LAKE is above the dam. That is a lot of Fort Loudouns! Oh yeah! And are you noticing now that there are two spellings for Loudon/Loudoun? You are correct, there are! Funny thing... they are the same...well, not really. One is a misspelling. Which one? Depending on who you ask, it could be either one. I don't care enough to fight someone over an extra or left-out "U", but personally I agree with the "put the 'U' in it" folks. It should be: L-O-U-D-O-U-N. Of course, I have not lived here long, am actually in Monroe County, and so my two cents is not entrenched with emotion over a "U" or the lack thereof. My opinion is merely the result of research, and the feeling that we should tend to keep with originals. L-O-U-D-O-U-N is the original. Here in Monroe County there is a historic fort site named Fort Loudoun. In 1756-57 a man called the Earl of Loudoun was the commander of British forces in North America. The fort was named after him. He spelled his name with two "U's" ....I think we should too. However, over in the City of Loudon and the County of Loudon...there are those who differ. There are placards and signs that differ. Many many documents from that city and county also differ....they have a long-standing preference for "U-lessness" over there. The city's name goes back to the 1850's and the county's to 1870. It is the way it is and has been for a long long time....almost long enough to be thought of as original. Oh, you might say..."Well, maybe there were two Loudons/Loudouns...the Earl and someone else." And sorry, NO there was not. I chuckled at the thought at first myself....maybe the Earl had a COUSIN, or COSIN rather, that was missing a "U". Okay, bad joke. Seriously, the town and county were named after Fort Loudoun, and it was named after the Earl of Loudoun. And they spelled it L-O-U-D-O-N. Being just an observer to this "One U or Two U" controversy, I think about how we humans tend to be. It does not matter if we are wrong or right, it is hard for us to change our mind once it is made. Particularly hard if there is a long history of the "Made Up Mind". It is always more difficult for us to turn corners than to keep going straight ahead. And more challenging still when we have to turn back again. We get rutted in and rooted in and do not transplant or flex well after a time. Of course, there is no problem with "Straight Ahead" when that is correct, but sometimes right is "Right Around the Corner". Sometimes we go straight off of a curve. Sometimes we turn when we should keep straight. Sometimes the road splits for a time and then reunites a few or many miles away. We are all just trying to keep in the roadway. That is a task common to human beings. It is the same struggle, even if we struggle differently. If two friends are walking side by side though and one turns right and the other keeps going straight...they may still be friends, but are no longer walking together. This happens to us humans in life. Things change. Thinking changes. Times and conditions change. People change. I guess the moral to this little story is to appreciate the time on the road while we walk together. It will be only as long as it will be. That day when someone wakes up and can no longer abide with the "U", and the other someone cannot live without "U" is likely to divide people to two separate roads. Anyways, it is something to think about today. Thank "You" for reading my postings. :) Have a good day everyone.
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