I will probably get shit for this since this is The Real Cape and all but it’s just one of those things that has been the way it is so long I never questioned it. Until now. I’ve been going to the Vineyard for as long as I can remember, I’ve worked on The Vineyard, we had a house there growing up, it’s not an issue of me just becoming aware of this, it’s an issue of it just being so deeply ingrained in me that Dukes County is “The County of Dukes County”.
It’s like an Abbott and Costello routine when you think about it. Just completely redundant. It’s kind of a power move on The Vineyard’s part when you think about it. It’s as if the founders just said “Hey let’s put county in the name of the county and force everyone for eternity to use horrible grammar”. Or maybe someone just screwed up the paperwork when they were filing to become a county?
So can someone do me a favor and comment on this telling me exactly what the story is here? I’m sure I could get to the bottom of it with a Google search but it’s always best to hear historical tales told by people who have had them handed down over generations don’t you think?
So what the hell is the deal with “The County of Dukes County” thing? Ready… go!
P.S. Yes, “we had a house there growing up” is an epic humblebrag.
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The Department of the Redundancy Department approved it apparently.
apocryphalia:”County of Dukes” used to be part of New York, a kin of County of Kings,(Brooklyn,) and County of Queens. Then the Cape and Islands were granted to Massachusetts, where the common usage at the time was “Barstable County”, “Bristol County”, etc. The official name retained the original pronounciation of the County name with the redundant Massachusetts title.
It is a county administration building, in the County of Dukes – Dukes County another name that has been used – probably started by some jerky transplat from NYC, who hangs in the Hamptons early summer, roots for the Skanees, puts F****** tomatoes in a perfectly good chowder – Damn injuns should have kept their 28 dollars of beads, and we would not have this delimma…