Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for May 13, 2019

I wonder who had to count those 1 million grains of rice…

Here is the text of George Washington’s Second Inaugural Address:

FELLOW-CITIZENS: I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people of united America.

Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take, and in your presence: That if it shall be found during my administration of the Government I have in any instance violated willingly or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (beside incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony.

https://www.history.org/almanack/life/politics/gwinaug2.cfm

“The Town of the Queen of the Angels.” (How did Ms. Kiritani make the rice grains stick to one another if it’s the kind that is sticky when cooked.)

Kiritani should have put on some noodle clothing.

She must’ve been some self-obsessed self-satisfied narcissist!

……and he still had a bigger crowd than DT.

and LA has been going downhill ever since

So… US stole the town from Mexico. None of the US could pronounce the long name. Thus, it was shortened to Los Angeles. Right?

Nice figure. Very real.

Well, George.. you did your best. All of you, back then, as to forming and beginning a great country. Thank you.

Did Saeri actually count the grains of rice or is the 1 million an estimate based on the weight of the completed statue? And how long did that project take?

Actually the ORIGINAL name of Los Angeles is: “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula” (in English, “The town of our lady the Queen of Angels of the River Porciúncula”).

Having been born in LA I used to have fun springing the full name of the city on visitors while showing them Olvera Street

George looks a lot like the portrayal by David Morse.

I’m guessing the name was shortened by the second person ever to refer to the place…

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s was even shorter: “I’m back.”

I thought it was “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Angeles.” You may have shortened it yourself.

Before being shortened by an even higher degree, Köln was known as “Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium”. The German city, known as “Cologne” in the English language, was founded by the Romans.

In his book “The Founding Documents of Los Angeles, A Bilingual Edition,” Los Angeles historian Doyce B. Nunis Jr., gives the town’s original name as El Pueblo de la Reyna de los Angeles (English: The town of the Queen of Angels). Nunis points to evidence in the earliest handwritten map of the new settlement (held at Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley), dated just four years after the town’s founding in 1781, that shows the town name as El Pueblo de la Reyna de los Angeles (Reyna may also be spelled Reina, English: Queen).

On the other hand, Monsignor Francis J. Weber, history writer and archivist for the Los Angeles Archdiocese, argues that the town’s original name was El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de Porciúncula (English: The town of Our Lady of the Angels of Porciúncula). He stated that this name was derived from the name Father Crespi gave to the adjacent river in 1769. The words Reyna or Reina were only added later and the name in the 1785 map was simply a continuation of that mistake.

Technically it was “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles”. The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels").

George had the disadvantage of not being able to look at past speeches for inspiration.

the town of the queen of los angeles

El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula

There’s a sign on the Union Station side of Olvera Street.

I saw a documentary once where the host was standing in front of this sign, commented that this was the original name, then he walked away saying, “Then WE took over, chopped the name to its barest minimum — and started mispronouncing it.”

Then, the camera did a close up on the “Los Angeles” part.

That proved the point, I should think….

Washington didn’t even publicly give the speech – it was submitted to the papers. A flaw with fake teeth of the era is that it’s very hard to give long speeches….

El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula – is the full name of Los Angeles.

And his fewer words had greater import…