Is this why Bostonians are reknowned for direction-giving

[prog]

Did you know that Boston is named after St. Botolph, the patron saint of travelers?

Comments

[queue.livejournal.com]

There's a St. Botolph Street near Copley. I never knew the connection.

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

Awesome - that means I can say "Boston" in Rikchik if I can figure out how to say "patron saint of".

[queue.livejournal.com]

There might be some confusion, since there are several other patron saints of travelers (and one of them is Anthony of Padua, so saying the city of the patron saint of travelers might indicate Padua).

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

Good point - maybe I should stick with "Beantown".

[prog.livejournal.com]

Consider a play on "The Hub of the Universe"?

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's also do-able.

[prog.livejournal.com]

I wondered about that. WP called him "the" patron saint. But Anthony's usually the dude that some folks glue to their dashboard, isn't he.

[queue.livejournal.com]

Christopher is also a patron saint of travelers, and I was given a St. Christopher medal/necklace when I was in grade school.

[cnoocy]

You could also go with the etymology of Botolph, which appears to be "ship-helper".

[dougo.livejournal.com]

I did actually discover that at some point after I moved here. Pre-Wikipedia, even.