At various point in history , people in Oregon , Maine , and a turn of otherstatesasked themselves the undermentioned question : What should we call the body politic around the larboard ? And the resolution was simply “ Portland . ”
you’re able to decide for yourself whether that reflects an admirable useful sensibility or a disgraceful deficiency of creativity . What is n’t up for debate is how mutual the trend is .
There are 17 Portlands in the U.S. , two each in Wisconsin and Colorado . Not all of them are technically named due to the front of a port;Indiana ’s Portland , for example , is literally just mention after Portland , Maine . There are 15 Paris ( again , two in Wisconsin ) and 12 Wyomings , include the res publica itself ( yet again , two are in Wisconsin ) .
In many case , context clues will tell you which twin someone ’s talking about . When a new acquaintance you meet in Manhattan says they live in Brooklyn , they almost definitely stand for the borough right across the East River , rather than any of the country ’s other dozen or so Brooklyns ( three of which are in Wisconsin ) .
But it ’s not always quite that well-defined — so The Pudding ’s Russell Samora , with help from Michelle McGhee , developed aninteractive mapto facilitate you . character in a station name , and the single-valued function will show you all the U.S. locales with that name , key out which one is most likely to be referenced in any cave in county . Those probabilities are determined by three factors : proximity to the place , the position ’s population , and the length of the place ’s Wikipedia page , the last of which sum “ an extra layer of nicety for the cultural importance / awareness of places that may not have a large universe , ” the siteexplains .
Places outside the U.S. are include when relevant . Enter Pluto , for example , and the map will show you a red radius around Pluto , West Virginia . Within that radius , a cite of Pluto most in all likelihood refer to the West Virginia spot . But beyond the circle , you ’re probably lot withPluto the dwarf planet .
The creators specify that the cock ’s conclusions are n’t set in stone . “ Please note that this is a very opinionated take on answering this question . Consider it a conversation starter , not ender , ” the site interpret . you could even give in feedback to help them flourish or improve their locating feedback .
con more and explore the map for yourselfhere .
