posted
I'm sitting in my apartment (that I share with 3 other guys) alone, when wthe doorbell rings. I answer it and find the mailman there with some packages, at first I'm hopeful it's the rain pants I ordered (and am in desperate need of for my bike trip to and from school everyday), but not, it's for my roomate. The mailman hands over the packages and says (to the best of my recollection) "I've delivered packages to a lot of guys, enough to know what Salt Lake City means." And then he leaves (smiling all the while, seems sincere enough to me). The packages, I notice after this comment, are indeed from SLC, but know I'm curious, what did he mean? Just that we're Mormon? And if so, why did he feel the need to point this out? Just general, "ah-hah" moment that he wanted to share?
posted
Yah, I don't techinically know what's in the package, but it's from the distribution center in SLC, which means it's something he ordered from the Church.
posted
Or perhaps it was a code word. He probably just said it at the wrong door. He's actually a double-agent, and thought you guys were his contact. You were probably supposed to reply in code too, and when you didn't, he realized his error and fled.
How well do you know your neighbours? Any recent immigrants with, say, Russian accents? Suspicious nocturnal activity? Interference in your TV signal?
posted
That's what I thought, until I saw that it was from distribution. A mission call is usually in a big white envelope. Something from distribution would be...something else.
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I thought a mission call was a regular sized white envelope. Just goes to show that considerable confusion on this point is possible. Now that I think about it, I can only remember seeing one mission call actually be opened. But it seems like it was triple folded.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
It's like a manila-sized envelope these days. When I was in the dorms they'd put them aside in a stack in the post office desk. Both of my brothers' calls were the same.
And an envelope is an envelope, but a package is a package. They're different. Why is Hobbes making fun of me? Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
My mission call came in a regular sized white envelope, but that was back in the day when it was delivered by mule train.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
Aw, good grief, everybody knows that a package from SaltLakeCity means you guys have run out of jello. No jello, no jello wrestling. No jello wrestling...
posted
SM, I was "making fun", I was "poking fun". Seriously I was just pointing out that you didn't have to go all the way down to find out it was from the distribution center and thus not like a mission call, I made the package description in my first post. That's it, and don't worry about it, I love SM!
quote:Salt Lake City ( P ) Pronunciation Key (sôlt)
The capital and largest city of Utah, in the north-central part of the state near Great Salt Lake. Brigham Young and his followers settled here in 1847, establishing it as the center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Population: 159,936.
So I'm guessing the guy means he's knowledgeable where geography is concerned, because he's delivered a lot of packages and letters from SLC. Posts: 2292 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I think that definition is a little outdated. According to the wikipedia entry, "as of the census of 2000, there are 181,743 people, 71,461 households, and 39,803 families residing in the city."
Posts: 2292 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Jeez, hobbes, you can dish the fun-poking but you sure can't take it. But it's okay, you can think I'm offended say you love me all you want and make Annie jealous. Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Salt Lake City proppa is not that big. But the metro area is about a million. Still not that big, but about half the state's population.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:I think that definition is a little outdated. According to the wikipedia entry, "as of the census of 2000, there are 181,743 people, 71,461 households, and 39,803 families residing in the city."
Which is still tiny.
Posts: 1170 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Utah is considered to be one of the most urbanized states. Despite the vast, vast tracts of empty land within its borders, most of it is desert and federally-owned, not open for development. There may not be a lot of people in Utah, but almost everyone lives in a city.
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"Um, hello, what does Salt Lake City mean? Is it safe to open the packages? Maybe we should just return them to sender?"
Posts: 5700 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
On a mostly unrelated note, it's funny how many people really don't know how Salt Lake City gets its name. You mean there's actually a lake there?
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
The prosaicness of Utah place names always amuses me.
"Look! There's a great big salty lake! Let's call it...the Great Big Salty Lake." "No, too casual. Great Salt Lake." "Okay. Let's build a city next to it. How about we call it...Salt Lake City." "There's another town in the western part of the valley growing up. Let's call it...West Valley." "The northern part of Salt Lake wants to be its own city. Let's call it North Salt Lake."
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"There's a little town down in southern Utah Valley where they use western European utensils. Let's call it Spanish Fork." "Yes, but there's a town in northern Utah Valley where they eat with their fingers. Let's call it American Fork."
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
and then when they ran out of obvious names, it was: "OK, let's name it after Book of Mormon characters to confuse tourists in a hundred years."
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
Those places have a weirdness all of their own.
Actually, Utah is kind of a cool place name - it comes from something that has to do with the area without being the obvious.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
Yeah, but as a non-Mormon, I think he was just trying to say that he recognizes that you guys are LDS - probably thinking you might be missionaries.
You should take it as a compliment -- he is in a way saying, "I've heard of you." which is good for the LDS church -- name recognition. He said it with a smile, so maybe he has had some previous experience with LDS people that was positive.
Like the other day I was driving in west Wichita. There were two guys on bicycles, wearing dark pants, white shirts, tie, and wearing helmets. Duh. Name tags too, I could see as I got closer. I said to my son -- "there are two Mormon missionaries". He said, "How do you know?" I explained. He still didn't believe I could know from just that.
On the funny side, right as these two Missionary guys came up to a stoplight/crosswalk and stopped, a gang of about four goth-apparreled junior-high aged youth also rode up on their tricked-out bicycles. What a contrast! It looked like the Missionaries exchanged pleasantries with them. Then, when their light changed to go -- they took off! The Mormons raced the younger kids on the bikes. It was hilarious. I thought it was neat that they (the LDS) could still be a little bit "kid" and have some fun while doing their mission...
quote:I think that definition is a little outdated. According to the wikipedia entry, "as of the census of 2000, there are 181,743 people, 71,461 households, and 39,803 families residing in the city."
The tinyness of Salt Lake City is artificial because the actual city limits haven't been changed significantly in about a century. Salt Lake County (which is now all part of the Salt Lake Metropolitan Area) has a population of 930,000. If you include areas in adjoining counties that are bedroom communities for Salt Lake the number is closer to 1.5 million.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
I say I'm from Little Rock. The truth is, where I live is so rural *I* don't even know where I live. But I go to church and do most of my business in Little Rock.
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Kind of like I say I'm "from" Chicago, even though I've never lived within 20 miles of it's city limits. I've actually lived in Palatine, Arlington Heights, and Hanover Park, but. . . . Chicago's the big dog in the area that is well known.
And I don't care what they try to say there, Naperville *IS* a suburb of Chicago, even if it is the 2nd largest city in the state.
Posts: 1323 | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:Kind of like I say I'm "from" Chicago, even though I've never lived within 20 miles of it's city limits. I've actually lived in Palatine, Arlington Heights, and Hanover Park, but. . . . Chicago's the big dog in the area that is well known.
And I don't care what they try to say there, Naperville *IS* a suburb of Chicago, even if it is the 2nd largest city in the state.
Gee, I do the same thing. Sometimes I say "suburban Chicago", but rarely do I say "Westmont" or even "DuPage County" until I know the person I'm speaking with knows the geography well enough to understand where that is.
And Naperville's #2, huh? Actually, I can kind of believe it...
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