# Bugtussle Bug Tussle how were you named? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 30, 2007, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440 "2007-08-30T00:07:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/1 "2007-08-30T00:07:49Z")
I remembered this from the Beverly Hillbillies, and decided to see if a town went by that name. I see that it is the name of cities in a few states. Both spellings are used. Where did this name originate, and why. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/2 "2007-08-30T00:27:53Z")
Bugtussle was near Pixley, Crabwell Corners, and Hooterville. All hamlets mentioned in “Petticoat Junction”. “Beverly Hillbillies” premiered on TV a year before “Petticoat” but I’ve no idea which show mentioned the town first. No idea which writer dreamed up the name, or why. > **[Hooterville](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooterville)** > > Hooterville is a fictional agricultural community that is the setting for the American situation comedies Petticoat Junction (1963–70) and Green Acres (1965–1971), two rural-oriented television series created or produced by Paul Henning for Filmways and CBS. Prior to the airing of Petticoat Junction, Hooterville is mentioned in an early episode in the first season of The Beverly Hillbillies, another Paul Henning sitcom. In this episode, Jethrine Bodine, Jethro Bodine's sister (also played by Max... ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/3 "2007-08-30T00:42:04Z")
I want to know about the towns that do exist. Why would they have used this weird name originally? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/4 "2007-08-30T00:54:33Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] I want to know about the towns that do exist. Why would they have used this weird name originally? [/QUOTE] I got 'nuthin. But after diligently googling for about 10 minutes, I do look forward to the Straight Dope on this one! ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/5 "2007-08-30T12:27:58Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] I got 'nuthin. But after diligently googling for about 10 minutes, I do look forward to the Straight Dope on this one! [/QUOTE] Me too. I should have stuck it in general questions. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/6 "2007-08-30T14:52:15Z")
I didn’t know there were “Bug Tussles” other than Bug Tussle, Texas. 🙂 Accodring to the “Handbook of Texas,” the answer for our Bug Tussle is: nobody knows exactly. > [@](#): > > The community was initially called Truss, after John Truss, who settled there. It was founded in the 1890s and had a post office in 1893-94. Later the town’s name was changed to Bug Tussle. At least three explanations exist for this unusual name. The most popular is that the name commemorated an invasion of bugs that spoiled a church ice cream social. A variation on this anecdote suggests that the relatively isolated spot, long popular as a site of Sunday school picnics, offered little else for picnickers to do after they ate than watch the bugs tussle. A third story tells of an argument between two old-time residents who wanted to change the name of the town. Their attention was diverted by the spectacle of two tumblebugs fighting. “Look at those bugs tussle,” one reportedly remarked, thus settling the argument and rechristening the town. [http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/BB/hnb97.html](http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/BB/hnb97.html) I personally think the second is the most likely, that there’s not much to do there but watch the bugs. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/7 "2007-08-31T01:17:14Z")
[QUOTE=pravnik] I personally think the second is the most likely, that there’s not much to do there but watch the bugs. [/QUOTE] I somehow thing all those explanations are ‘folk etymology’, constructed after the fact. I suspect, but cannot demonstrate, that bugtussle is some sort of corruption of some germanic word. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/8 "2007-08-31T02:18:51Z")
QtM, I had the same inkling, that it was Germanic rather than a Bug thang, and searched around under that criteria, but, still, got nuthin’… ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/9 "2007-08-31T11:08:06Z")
Thanks for looking people. I hope we can find out something on this. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/10 "2007-08-31T16:42:56Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] I somehow thing all those explanations are ‘folk etymology’, constructed after the fact. I suspect, but cannot demonstrate, that bugtussle is some sort of corruption of some germanic word. [/QUOTE] Entirely possible, although the best translation I can come up with is “Nose Pull.” I do still stand by the assertion that in some parts of Texas watching a good bug fight is an exciting diversion from the usual practice of watching the grass grow. 🙂 German communities in Texas were _very_ German in character, though, and still remain so to some degree. My grandmther was fluent in [Texas German](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_German), which was spoken more often than English until around the 1940’s (she taught me Texas German for “skunk”: _ein stinkkatzen_, “stinky cat.” :D) Her brothers had such thick German accents that they enlisted to fight in the Pacific theater so they wouldn’t get mistaken and shot for German spies in American uniforms. Anyway, my point being, the name seems to have been changed in the early 20th century when a small but significant portion of Texas still spoke German; it seems like if it was of German origin it would be better remembered. The other thing: Bug Tussle isn’t really in the “German country” of Central and Southeast Texas…it’s in North Texas up near the Oklahoma border. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/11 "2007-08-31T16:54:03Z")
[QUOTE=pravnik] My grandmther was fluent in [Texas German](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_German), which was spoken more often than English until around the 1940’s (she taught me Texas German for “skunk”: _ein stinkkatzen_, “stinky cat.” :D) [/QUOTE] Sorry, I guess that should be “die stinkkatze.” I think “stinkkatzen” would be plural. Gimme a break, I was five. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/12 "2007-09-01T00:59:48Z")
According to Robert M. Rennick’s “Kentucky Place Names”, Bugtussle, KY, got it’s name > [@](#): > > in jest for the population of local doodlebugs. Ralph B. Marshall gave this account in his report to the Board of Geographic Names. “According to older residents in the community, the name was acquired during the time the wheat threashers toured the county threshing the farmers’ wheat. The threashers slept in beds of hay in the barns, and stayed on so long that it was said the bugs got so large they would tussle in the hay, thereby giving the name of Bugtussle to the communty.” ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/13 "2007-09-01T09:27:51Z")
Waiting for **Bosda** to chime in… ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/14 "2007-09-01T10:27:44Z")
I have researched more, but found nothing I want to add from that. Something I don’t think is relevant to this, but is interesting. Bush Tussle - A Texas ranch hand brings up this being when cattle head to the brush to escape the men when they loop them. Loop them referring to throwing the rope around the cattle’s necks to bring them down. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/15 "2007-09-05T13:11:12Z")
I give this a bump to see if the former vacationing dopers have anything to add. ---
**Author:** ![impalachick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/aca169/32.png) [@impalachick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/impalachick)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/16 "2013-07-31T22:01:16Z")
I live in a place called Wilburn, Alabama. It is only called Wilburn by Meteorologists who are about to warn us about the latest tornado coming through. To everyone else it is called Bug Tussle. The origin of the name Bug Tussle came from the town drunk in 1912. He became fascinated by two bugs fighting on top of a pile of horse dung and he dubbed the area “Bug Tussle”. It’s not dignified, but hey, rarely are the interesting things dignified. The most distinguishing landmark was a famous restaurant called the Bug Tussle Steakhouse. People came from other states to eat there because they had a 1 1/2 pound steak and if you could eat it, it was free. Local legends say that Earl Scruggs (of Flatt and Scruggs fame and writer/performer of the Beverly Hillbillies theme song) told the creators of the Beverly Hillbillies that since they would be driving through (it was located on a major highway that sees an amazing amount of traffic) they had to eat at the Bug Tussle Steakhouse. They loved it and asked the waitress about the area. It’s nestled in the valley of two mountains in the lower Appalachian mountains. They found out that the entire area was known as Bug Tussle and were inspired. And the rest, as they say, is history. True? I can’t say, but I’ve heard that my entire life and I know that the Steakhouse was still there and doing a crazy amount of business at the time. I also remember there being a signed picture of Earl Scruggs on the wall in the dining area of the restaurant. It burned down in the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/17 "2013-07-31T22:22:49Z")
Carl Albert, Speaker of the House in the 70’s, was from [Bugtussle, Oklahoma](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugtussle,_Oklahoma). Maybe that’s how the name seeped into the minds of those susceptible to it. > [@](#): > > The settlement was allegedly named by Mr. Woods who felt that the bugs at the site were so numerous, that they were a never ending “tussle” for him to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/18 "2013-07-31T23:14:38Z")
> [@](#): > > “Look at those bugs tussle,” one reportedly remarked, thus settling the argument and rechristening the town. Good thing these guys weren’t around in 1754, or Willimantic, CT would be named [Frogfuck](http://www.mansfieldnumismaticsociety.org/frogs.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/19 "2013-08-01T00:27:34Z")
> [@impalachick](#): > > I live in a place called Wilburn, Alabama. It is only called Wilburn by Meteorologists who are about to warn us about the latest tornado coming through. To everyone else it is called Bug Tussle. The origin of the name Bug Tussle came from the town drunk in 1912. He became fascinated by two bugs fighting on top of a pile of horse dung and he dubbed the area “Bug Tussle”. It’s not dignified, but hey, rarely are the interesting things dignified. The most distinguishing landmark was a famous restaurant called the Bug Tussle Steakhouse. People came from other states to eat there because they had a 1 1/2 pound steak and if you could eat it, it was free. Local legends say that Earl Scruggs (of Flatt and Scruggs fame and writer/performer of the Beverly Hillbillies theme song) told the creators of the Beverly Hillbillies that since they would be driving through (it was located on a major highway that sees an amazing amount of traffic) they had to eat at the Bug Tussle Steakhouse. They loved it and asked the waitress about the area. It’s nestled in the valley of two mountains in the lower Appalachian mountains. They found out that the entire area was known as Bug Tussle and were inspired. And the rest, as they say, is history. True? I can’t say, but I’ve heard that my entire life and I know that the Steakhouse was still there and doing a crazy amount of business at the time. I also remember there being a signed picture of Earl Scruggs on the wall in the dining area of the restaurant. It burned down in the 1980s. This is the one I was going to mention. I grew up in Blount County, AL and I think I went to the restaurant once with my parents when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440/20 "2013-08-01T18:56:27Z")
My wife and I were once driving through Wisconsin when she saw “BUG TUSSLE” come up on one of our cell phones (where it usually says “Verizon” or “AT&T”). It’s a local [wireless provider](http://www.bugtusselwireless.com/) in WI, apparently. It’s become a bit of a running joke…the name doesn’t exactly conjure up images of a ultra-high tech communications company, I guess. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bugtussle-bug-tussle-how-were-you-named/417440.md?page=2)