Greg and I just finished the drive from CT to Pittsburgh to visit a customer. Greg just got one of those new handheld GPS devices (because Josh and I can’t keep this economy going on our own) so we decided to ignore the Yahoo map Greg had printed and listen to this new black plastic soothsayer. We started talking (as we do) and before we knew it we ended up stuck in horrible traffic on I-95 in the Bronx at which point the GPS lost satellite connections. When I called my wife to ask where we were her answer was, “on the only road you never, ever go on, at any hour.” To add to the fun there a large number of Colombians were going to the England vs. Colombia soccer game in New Jersey so there was much celebrating, honking, and flag waving. Luckily my wife was unaware that David Beckham was within 50 miles of her. Anyway, the entire thing was a lot like a Seinfeld episode except we didn’t end up burning any flags. Eventually we made it across the George Washington Bridge, past the soccer and into what turns out to be the reeeeealy long state of Pennsylvania.

Besides learning how to operate a handheld GPS and beg it to find satellites I also learned that Pittsburgh had an “h” at the end. Who the heck put that there? It took me an hour (and Google SMS) for me to believe Greg.

After some research tonight as it turns out they actually dropped the “h” in 1890 but added it back in 1911 through “efforts of interested citizens.” In fact on July 23, 1921 there was a nation wide campaign on “How to spell Pittsburgh.” I clearly missed this campaign which explains my confusion. The “h” was dropped by the United State Board of Geographic Names which was formed in 1890. I had no idea we had a board of names. The funny thing is I wonder if the first thing they did in 1890 is “drop that goddamn ‘h’ from Pittsburgh because it doesn’t make any sense out there at the end of burg.” Maybe that was why it was formed in the first place.

It is also pretty entertaining (at least when you are stuck in a hotel in Pittsburg-h) to read the dockets from the board of names. For example items like:

The proposal for Dixey Bar was submitted by a resident of Fairhope, who reports that the name has been in local use for many decades. The feature in question is a 4.8 km (3 mi) long sandbar that extends southward from Mobile Bay and Fort Morgan, along the east side of the main shipping channel into Mobile Bay.

And I thought my meetings were boring.