At some point yesterday I saw a print reference to the city of Poughkeepsie. I don't remember exactly when or where or why, but it must have made an impression. I do faintly remember that at this point when I came across this reference that it made me recall an earlier brush with the city - or rather the word - back when I was living in New York City. If I remember correctly, I was talking to a telephone operator about something and for some reason I had to mention the city of Poughkeepsie and apparantly I pronounced it wrong and the operator sniffed because she could tell I was not a NYC native (as if my Texas-meets-California southern Valley Girl drawl hadn't already given it away). I remember feeling stupid and irritated and homesick.

Amazingly though, to this day I could not tell you how to pronounce the word. I'm sure the operator told me, but even though it bugged me the actual correct pronounciation did not stick. I guess this bothered my subconcious because last night I could not stop dreaming about Poughkeepsie - or rather about how to pronounce it. I don't remember the particulars of the dream (who was there, where we were, why it came up), I only remember obsessing over how it should sound. (note to subconcious: why do you care? Poughkeepsie is a small town - 30,000 population, 4.8 square miles - that's 3,000 miles away! Let it drop already!) Does it sound like "rough" or "tough"? Maybe it rhymes with "push" or "rush". No, wait, maybe it sounds like "knew" or "grew"....or maybe "wow"?
Help me! I don't know if I can handle another nightmare-ish eight hours of sleep spent contemplating this topic.