RAGBRAI

Riders had no problems pronouncing Quimby, a town RAGBRAI visited earlier this week, but the Buchanan County town of Quasqueton wasn’t so easy.

For the record, both QWASK-uh-tun and qwa-SKEE-tun are acceptable, but other versions kept popping up throughout the day from Iowans and out-of-staters alike. QUASKE-toon. QUASK-question. QUACK-town.

One rider told someone on the other end of her cell phone that she was in Queesaquatchie, prompting a local to interrupt with a polite correction.

“Everybody wants to know how it’s pronounced,” said lifelong resident Harvey Chesmore, 70, who was staffing the Quasqueton Historical Society’s museum on the main drag. “But the truth is, they’re all right. We just call it Quasky.”

So what does it actually mean? Native Americans gave the location along the Wapsipinicon River its first name, Quasquetuck, which means “swift running waters,” according to a booklet the local booster club published for the town’s – ready for this? – quasquicentennial, in 1967.

– Michael Morain