Blue Ball And Chain
April 20, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Commenting on our post below about Intercourse, Pennsylvania, reader David Wharton enlightens us about Blue Ball, Pennsylvania.
Blue Ball is an unincorporated community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania near 40°N 76°W. Blue Ball lies approximately 2 miles east-northeast of the town of New Holland, Pennsylvania at the intersection of US 322 and PA Route 23.
The town’s name often gets attention due to it being very similar to blue balls, a sexual condition in males. This joins nearby towns Intercourse, Bird-in-Hand, and Virginville in the list of sexually-suggestive sounding town names in the Pennsylvania Dutch area of Pennsylvania.
You know the old election saying: As Blue Ball goes, so goes Virginville. We’ll watch the results closely on Tuesday night. Then have a cigarette.
Lee Annis said,
April 20, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
If we’re talking about the Clintons, the proper word would be cigar.
John Henry said,
April 21, 2008 @ 9:07 am
I forget the name of the magazine, perhaps Avant Garde? that was mailed from Blue Balls PA specifically for its sexual connotations.
The magazine had been initialy banned from the mail by the Postmaster General as obsecene. After winning the case, they began mailing from Blue Balls just to stick it in the PG’s eye, so to speak.
This was back in the 60’s when there was even a concepts such as obscene.
Seems pretty quaint today.
John Henry