I had been trying all afternoon, in vain, to think of the name Perth Amboy. It seems now like a very simple name to recall and yet on the day in question I thought of every other town in the country, as well as such words and names and phrases as terra cotta, Walla-Walla, bill of lading, vice versa, hoity-toity, Pall Mall, Bodley Head, Schumann-Heink, etc. without even coming close to Perth Amboy. I suppose terra cotta was the closest I came, although it was not very close.
- James Thurber, "More Alarms at Night," My Life and Hard Times, p.171 in Writings and Drawings
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