Some years ago, when the time came for a small settlement in western Missouri to open its first post office, residents decided they wanted to give the town a name that was—literally—one of a kind. Their first choice was “Excelsior.” But when they sent the name off to Washington, they were told it was already in use elsewhere. The residents submitted a second choice, and then a third, with the same result. Finally, in frustration, they wrote to the Postmaster General himself and told him basically: OK then—you come up with something. “We don’t care what name you give us,” they wrote. “Just make it something peculiar.”
And so was born the town of Peculiar, Missouri (motto: “Where the ‘Odds’ are with You”). You probably never heard of it before. But now that you have and you’ll never forget it.