05/21/25 Grif.Net - Reality Check (+ Answers to Wisconsin City Names Quiz)
b...@grif.net
After painting the bedroom walls, my husband prepared to put back the pictures.
“How should I hang them?” he asked me. “Too high or too low?”
~~ANSWERS: WISCONSIN CITY NAMES~~
Example: Wisconsin (Miami) = red stone place
1. OCONOMOWOC (Ho-Chunk) = where waters meet
2. EAU CLAIRE (French) = clear water
3. RACINE (Potawatomi) = root
4. FREISTADT (German) = free city
5. KENOSHA (Menominee) = place of the pike
6. FOND DU LAC (French) = bottom of the lake
7. MEQUON (Chippewa) = ladle
8. MILWAUKEE (Algonquian) = gathering place by the waters
9. [NEW] GLARUS (Swiss) = clearing, bright spot
10. WAUSAU (Ojibwe) = faraway place
11. TREMPEALEAU (French) = mountain with foot in the water
12. WAUKESHA (Fox) = named for former Potawatomi chief
13. SHEBOYGAN (Chippewa) = waterway between lakes
14. KROK (Czech) = father of legendary Queen Libuse
15. CHETEK (Ojibwe) = pelican
16. ASHWAUBENON (Menominee) = a Menominee Chief
17. PRARIE DU CHIEN (French) = prairie (of) dog
18. WEYAUWEGA (Winnebago) = resting place
19. OKAUCHEE (Potawatomi) = it is small
20. PONIATOWSKI (Polish) = named after royal family
21. KEWAUNEE (Ho-Chunk) = great prairie chicken
22. KINNICKINNIC (Ojibwe) = mixed landscape
23. GENOA (Italian) = knee
24. CHEQUAMEGON-NICOLET National Forest (Ojibwe/French) = sand-bar/explorer’s name
25. WAUPUN (Ojibwe) = early light of the day
Bonus: ELEVA (French) = a grain elevator had been erected by the railroad tracks, but only the first five letters had been painted when the scaffolds were vacated for the winter. Newcomers assumed that the uncompleted name on the elevator was the town's name. Eleva.
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
"Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!"
