Opinion

Well, Family, I just couldn’t get enough of those Fishing Fords. We had North and Old last time, and now we pop over to the southside

Like many of the great cities of the world, Petersburg is located by a life-giving stream of water. London is on the Thames; Paris is on the Seine and Petersburg is eternally bonded with and blessed by the creek called Cane. Cane Creek is Petersburg’s primary waterway but where did it get its name? IDK means “I don’t know” and that applies here, but I do know that there is plenty of wild cane growing up and down the Cane Creek. I’m going to take a wild guess that the Cane Creek was named after our own small species of bamboo, sometimes called creek cane, river cane or switch cane.

Let’s explore the origin of some common sayings. After writing several columns about sayings like, “Not my cup of tea” and “The straw that broke the camel’s back,” many of you suggested a few others. How many times have you threatened to read someone “The Riot Act?” What is that act, and why is there a riot involved? I’m pretty sure I “read the riot act” to my sons when they were teenagers, and I’m equally certain they rolled their eyes when I did.