Humbolt….It’s Not the Spelling; It’s Where You Draw the Line

Humbolt County Line by Talia Rose

Humbolt County Line by Talia Rose, County Line Wild

A new sign on Hwy 271 heading north from Mendocino County indicates that drivers are about to enter the crazy, colorful county of Humbolt. We know most people follow the conventional placement of a “d” between the “l” and the “t” but, this signmaker chose to follow his or her own road to spelling the name of our county.

Now…if they’d just replaced the “o” with a marijuana leaf….

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Also, if you don’t follow County Line Wild on Facebook, you are missing out on her spectacular wildlife photos–like these:

Screenshot of part of County Line Wild’s photo section on Facebook.

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58 Comments
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Scooter
Guest
Scooter
7 years ago

I saw that the other day, cracked me up, but I was following a drunken fool in a white jeep so I tempered my enjoyment with anger.

McFly
Guest
McFly
7 years ago
Reply to  Scooter

No, I wasn’t drunk. My vehicle has a part that needs changing and it makes the vehicle swerve around like that.

had enought
Guest
had enought
7 years ago
Reply to  McFly

well fix it

sharpen your pencil
Guest
sharpen your pencil
7 years ago
Reply to  McFly

What part? Technically speaking, the driver is part of the vehicle, have you tried replacing that?

Johnny
Guest
Johnny
7 years ago

What was wrong with the old sign?

Did the installer see that it was misspelled?

Taurus Balzhoff
Guest
Taurus Balzhoff
7 years ago
Reply to  Johnny

Important point, suddenly apparent:

Cars have brakes, trees can break.

Pay attention everybody, a big distinction.

As for how you spell Humboldt, well, it sometimes seems like, to the many partly-literate folks (a polite description) who inhabit this area, it may not appear to be important, and to me, it is surprising that anyone actually noticed this particular sign, posted as it was on a rather dangerous looking bridge.

Have a good day everyone, hope the lights are on and the flooding is not too severe, and I hope you have good brakes and that your trees don’t break.

Shaka
Guest
Shaka
7 years ago

Alot of newbies don’t know Humboldt is spelled with a D at least there’s some humor with the world moving here….

JR
Guest
JR
7 years ago

And there are people who think it is spelled “Arcada”.

SMH
Guest
SMH
7 years ago
Reply to  JR

Everbody knows it’s spelled ‘Arcadia’

sharpen your pencil
Guest
sharpen your pencil
7 years ago
Reply to  SMH

I thought is was spelled Arqaeda….

EmR
Guest
EmR
7 years ago

So…the dude it was named after, should just crawl up out of the ground, and scratch the d out of his headstone???

visitor
Guest
visitor
7 years ago
Reply to  EmR

“…the dude it was named after…”

Anyone interested in that dude ought to take a look at this recent book, ‘The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World’:
http://www.andreawulf.com/about-the-invention-of-nature.html

“”The Invention of Nature” reveals the extraordinary life of the visionary German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) and how he created the way we understand nature today.
Though almost forgotten today, his name lingers everywhere from the Humboldt Current to the Humboldt penguin.

Humboldt was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. His restless life was packed with adventure and discovery, whether climbing the highest volcanoes in the world, paddling down the Orinoco or racing through anthrax–infested Siberia.

Perceiving nature as an interconnected global force, Humboldt discovered similarities between climate zones across the world and predicted human-induced climate change.

He turned scientific observation into poetic narrative, and his writings inspired naturalists and poets such as Darwin, Wordsworth and Goethe but also politicians such as Jefferson. Wulf also argues that it was Humboldt’s influence that led John Muir to his ideas of preservation and that shaped Thoreau’s ‘Walden’.

Wulf traces Humboldt’s influences through the great minds he inspired in revolution, evolution, ecology, conservation, art and literature. In ‘The Invention of Nature’, Wulf brings this lost hero to science and the forgotten father of environmentalism back to life.”

Carolyn Ayres
Guest
7 years ago
Reply to  visitor

Thank you for this. Humboldt was an extraordinary person, just like this county. Let’s not dumb us down!

visitor
Guest
visitor
7 years ago
Reply to  Carolyn Ayres

You’re welcome. Indeed he was an extraordinary person. This New Yorker article synthesizes a lot of the info from Wulf’s wonderful book:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/26/humboldts-gift

“He’d also become convinced of the sophistication of South America’s pre-Columbian cultures and of the evils of slavery, which he felt obligated to publicize.

“It is for the traveler who has been an eyewitness of the degradation of human nature, to make the complaints of the unfortunate reach the ear of those by whom they can be relieved,” he wrote. On his way back to Europe, Humboldt stopped in Washington, D.C., where he met with President Thomas Jefferson. Humboldt sometimes referred to himself as “half American,” and was initially a big admirer of the American experiment. But, as the decades wore on, he grew disenchanted. In the eighteen-fifties, he told the Times’ correspondent in Germany, “I don’t like the present position of your politics. The influence of slavery is increasing, I fear. So, too, is the mistaken view of Negro inferiority.”…

(Humboldt never married, and it’s often speculated that he was gay, though how many—if any—of his intense relationships were sexual is unknown.)…

…he decided to deliver a series of lectures on the theme of, well, everything. He expatiated on meteorology, geology, plant geography, and ocean currents, as well as on fossils, magnetism, astronomy, human migration, and poetry. The lectures, originally given at the University of Berlin, proved so popular that Humboldt delivered them all over again, in a concert hall. There was such a crush to get into the hall that, on the days when he spoke, traffic in the neighborhood practically ground to a halt….

Long before the advent of chainsaws, (Wulf) notes, he was warning about the dangers of deforestation. And, already in the early nineteenth century, he recognized a connection between forest health and hydrology; when trees were cut down, he observed, evaporation from the soil increased, and the area dried out. “As Humboldt described how humankind was changing the climate, he unwittingly became the father of the environmental movement,” Wulf writes. In her view, he “invented the web of life, the concept of nature as we know it today.”

judi
Guest
judi
7 years ago

not too bad…it could be “humdolt”…

Nimby
Guest
Nimby
7 years ago

Waidt, waidt……..really?! That sign was actually boldted to a post and installedt, or is this photoshopdt?! I’m apalledt.

YoMama
Guest
YoMama
7 years ago
Reply to  Nimby

10 points^^

Brad
Guest
Brad
7 years ago
Reply to  Nimby

Post of the Month Award

Nimby
Guest
Nimby
7 years ago

I cant stop looking at that photo, it looks like “EEL” was misspelled on the white sign below and they had to correct it as well. Really beautiful photo, all jokes aside.

Sunnybankroar
Guest
Sunnybankroar
7 years ago
Reply to  Nimby

The “EEL” portion of that sign was altered many years ago and used to read ZAK. What you see is the county repair to an old sign.

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
7 years ago

There was a road sign in Alderpoint with directions to “Garbervile”.

Phil Frisbie, Jr. at Caltrans
Guest

So the county is not immune to misspellings either 🙂

Cute
Guest
Cute
7 years ago

A friend of mine needing directions spelled it Gerberville.

Guest
Guest
Guest
7 years ago

“Job Opening,” Caltrans, no English, reading or writing skills necessary.

Dustin
Guest
Dustin
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

This looks like a prank. The sign was repainted. Both. My guess is that someone has been changing the letters on the bottom sign and then decided todo the top sign latter.

Walters
Guest
Walters
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Ah yes. But a Caltrans supervisor had to order its replacement/repair, receive the order. Next the said person had to order a crew to install it. Supsequently the crew had to receive the sign and transport it to the location and install the sign. After this time, the crew leader should have veiwed the installation to insure the work has been completed.
I agree that mistakes are made but to put this all on a sign maker is not in good form.

It is funny knowing that all these hands involved missed it.

And just because your family worked there, you come to their aid. I thought you were an unbiased reporter for the people.

Walters
Guest
Walters
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

I smiled too at the situation and with your lenency on a Department that you approve of.

I understand that people and even reporter’s have opinions, but in my experience the best of both of the above mentioned groups do their duties without.

Which I am failing at currently and I am sure you will highlight that along with any other shortcomings you see fit.

Sorry to bother.

visitor
Guest
visitor
7 years ago
Reply to  Walters

It’s a misspelled sign. Kym’s a human being, first and foremost.

You misspelled leniency, by the way, not that I care at all. It’s a bit funny, though, given your out-of-place indignation and smarm. Otherwise, it – along with the many grammatical errors in both of your responses here – wouldn’t be remarkable.

visitor
Guest
visitor
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Same misspelling on an ‘official’ sign in July, 2016, in Milwaukee County, WI:
http://fox6now.com/2016/07/27/milwaukee-county-parks-sign-was-missing-a-letter-caught-the-eyes-of-passersby/

“Oops! A sign recently created to identify Humboldt Park on Milwaukee’s south side was missing a “D.” The sign was erected at the corner of Oklahoma and Howell Avenues — and it got people talking.

“We just put it in without even noticing — and then sure enough, people started calling. And yeah, we had to take it out right away,” said Ryan Simerson, a Milwaukee County Parks employee.

Simerson said upon delivery, his co-workers with the Milwaukee County Parks Department had the misspelled sign installed Tuesday, July 26th and uninstalled Wednesday morning.”

browndwarf
Guest
browndwarf
7 years ago

Leggett is now just Leg, saw the sign just the other day

Cory
Guest
Cory
7 years ago

My Humboldt tattoo is missing the “d” as well…thats what I get for having it done in Butt county…I mean Butte, lol.

Phil Frisbie, Jr. at Caltrans
Guest

This is a reoccurring issue with some of our sign suppliers, and unfortunately the installer did not catch it.

We have a correctly spelled sign in our stock and will replace it soon.

Phil Frisbie, Jr. at Caltrans
Guest
Reply to  Kym Kemp

You will always have the photo and this post 🙂

Brad
Guest
Brad
7 years ago

Can I buy the old sign Phil?

Phil Frisbie, Jr. at Caltrans
Guest
Reply to  Brad

I am sorry, but I know of no legal way we could do that. The sign will likely be corrected and put back into our stock.

visitor
Guest
visitor
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

HSU made the same mistake last year on some of their gift shop items:
https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2016/jan/19/first-day-school-deal-hsus-bookstore/

Maybe some of those items are still available there at steep discount.

HUMBOLDT WARRIOR
Guest
HUMBOLDT WARRIOR
7 years ago

It needs to come down!!

Hick
Guest
Hick
7 years ago

Save a buck! At least leave it up for a couple of days. So it can get some bullet holes and shotgun blasts in it. Then it will look like every other sign around here. Those sign replacement guys are busy enough!

Guy
Guest
Guy
7 years ago

When we arrived in Arcata in 1974, the Caltrans signs on both 101 and 299 were for “Guintoli” Lane. The old timers pronounced it “Jin-toe-lee”. We thought it was an odd local pronunciation quirk until, months later, the signs were changed to “Giuntoli” as they are today.

King P.
Guest
King P.
7 years ago

I hear King’s Peak is somewhere over there in Humbolt County.

Brad
Guest
Brad
7 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

We could always debate the spelling of “Sproul” Creek road. In my neighborhood it’s Dutyville versus Doodyville after the Doody family who lived up the road.

G-MAS
Guest
G-MAS
7 years ago

It’s priceless!!we all know where we come from and know the correct spelling.nobody’s perfekt!!

Stirred
Guest
Stirred
7 years ago

Doodyville yes

King Peak yes

I Can Spel ...
Guest
I Can Spel ...
7 years ago

Someone should correct it on the sign with White Out. LOL

Kate
Guest
Kate
7 years ago

Is that on the detour off 101? I thought it was cool because I never went that way before and noticed the sign, because county line signs are cool and all.

visitor
Guest
visitor
7 years ago

Humbolt Fog Cheese:
https://thecheeseshop.com/humbolt-fog-cheese/

Misspelled by a store in Indiana. Award-winning Humboldt Fog Cheese is made in Arcata.

Shak
Guest
Shak
7 years ago

When did the county line change? Isn’t it supposed to be further north?

Ben
Guest
Ben
7 years ago

The southbound sign on Redwood Drive says “Redwood Rural Health Center”.. It is, in fact “Redwoods”.. A small thing but after years on the Health Center board, I find it a bit annoying..

Sleepy Alligator
Guest
Sleepy Alligator
7 years ago

I say leave it up. It’s unique, it serves it’s purpose, and it gives us something to talk and laugh about. Well at least those of us who are lucky enough to have a sense of humor. For all you uptights, just be glad it wasn’t spelled Bumboldt, Skumboldt, or Dumboldt!

Guest
Guest
Guest
7 years ago

Should say Dumbolt.