# The origin of the funniest hotel name on Earth
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 7, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955 "2011-10-07T23:42:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/1 "2011-10-07T23:42:02Z")
Since when does “Arms” refer to a building? How did it get associated with hotels? I’ve looked in a few dictionaries and I can’t find anything about the word ‘arm’ or ‘arms’ being used in the relevant sense.
(The joke, of course, is the Broken Arms Hotel (you know, the one near the Powerhouse) as used in “Porky Pig’s Feat” from 1943. I’m sure the same basic joke was used multiple times both before and since.)
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### Author:  [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/2 "2011-10-07T23:55:00Z")
Maybe it started as “Sheltering Arms” or “Welcoming Arms” or something like that.
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### Author:  [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/3 "2011-10-07T23:59:17Z")
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> Since when does “Arms” refer to a building? How did it get associated with hotels? I’ve looked in a few dictionaries and I can’t find anything about the word ‘arm’ or ‘arms’ being used in the relevant sense.
>
> (The joke, of course, is the Broken Arms Hotel (you know, the one near the Powerhouse) as used in “Porky Pig’s Feat” from 1943. I’m sure the same basic joke was used multiple times both before and since.)
In the UK ‘Arms’ usually refers to pubs. For example I was in the Allied Arms in Reading, Berkshire the other day(which has been there since the 15th century). The ‘arms’ in question are actually the same ‘arms’ as in ‘coat of arms’.
In this picture (of the Allied Arms) you can just about see on the coat of arms on the sign:
> **[The Allied Arms](https://allied-arms.co.uk/)**
>
> The Allied Arms
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/4 "2011-10-08T00:02:15Z")
> [@These are my own pants](#):
>
> In the UK ‘Arms’ usually refers to pubs. For example I was in the Allied Arms in Reading, Berkshire the other day(which has been there since the 15th century). The ‘arms’ in question are actually the same ‘arms’ as in ‘coat of arms’.
And in America you sometimes see restaurants called ‘Inn’, as in the chain Red Roof Inn. This is very close to actually making sense.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/5 "2011-10-08T00:02:50Z")
Using Google Books as a source, you find out quickly that it originates in Great Britain. The earlies cite I could find was for the [City Arms Hotel](http://books.google.com/books?id=s6JbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA144&dq=%22arms+hotel%22&hl=en&ei=cpKPTrqFEYHq0gGH_6FW&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22arms%20hotel%22&f=false), in 1798.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/6 "2011-10-08T00:08:31Z")
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> And in America you sometimes see restaurants called ‘Inn’, as in the chain Red Roof Inn. This is very close to actually making sense.
Red Roof Inn are motels, not restaurants…
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/7 "2011-10-08T00:11:58Z")
In Baltimore can be found the quaint maritime neighborhood of Fell’s Point. Within its confines may be found the [Admiral Fell Inn](http://www.harbormagic.com/AdmiralFell/admiral_fell_default.asp). That one’s pretty funny.
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### Author:  [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/8 "2011-10-08T00:16:35Z")
> [@samclem](#):
>
> Using Google Books as a source, you find out quickly that it originates in Great Britain. The earlies cite I could find was for the [City Arms Hotel](http://books.google.com/books?id=s6JbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA144&dq=%22arms+hotel%22&hl=en&ei=cpKPTrqFEYHq0gGH_6FW&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22arms%20hotel%22&f=false), in 1798.
I think you’ll find it is likely the association is much earlier than 1748 (thoguh I don’t have a cite).
A common name for pubs in the UK is “The Butcher’s Arms” (there’s one near me also in Sonning Common). The association I think goes back to Inns and the coat of arms were usually coats of arms of a guild with which the Inn was associated with.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/9 "2011-10-08T01:14:09Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> Red Roof Inn are motels, not restaurants…
Ah. Must have confused them with Pizza Inn.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/10 "2011-10-08T01:25:14Z")
> [@samclem](#):
>
> Using Google Books as a source, you find out quickly that it originates in Great Britain. The earlies cite I could find was for the [City Arms Hotel](http://books.google.com/books?id=s6JbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA144&dq=%22arms+hotel%22&hl=en&ei=cpKPTrqFEYHq0gGH_6FW&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22arms%20hotel%22&f=false), in 1798.
> [@These are my own pants](#):
>
> I think you’ll find it is likely the association is much earlier than 1748 (thoguh I don’t have a cite).
>
> A common name for pubs in the UK is “The Butcher’s Arms” (there’s one near me also in Sonning Common). The association I think goes back to Inns and the coat of arms were usually coats of arms of a guild with which the Inn was associated with.
I was only showing the name of the “xxxx Arms Hotel.” I’m positive you’re correct about the “xxx Arms” being the name of inns in England hundreds of years before 1798.
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### Author:  [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/11 "2011-10-08T02:05:52Z")
I assume you’re making the further connection that pubs often had sleeping rooms upstairs. In fact, I believe Australian pubs (at least in some states) are required to.
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### Author:  [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/12 "2011-10-08T02:07:04Z")
“Arms” referred to the coat of arms or blazon of a lord or family. This trend probably stared as a travelers hostel being under the protection of a lord or approved for lodging of his guests.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/13 "2011-10-08T02:22:34Z")
1694 Oxford Arms Inn.
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### Author:  [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/14 "2011-10-08T02:26:31Z")
It was fictional, but Hee-Haw (yes, the TV show) had a running gag about the Empty Arms Hotel.
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### Author:  [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/15 "2011-10-08T02:37:02Z")
The use arms, as far as anyone can tell, was just as a sign. Nothing whatsoever to do with the protection of a lord or an association with a guild.
In the days when most of the population were illiterate, pubs (and other businesses) would make use of literal signs: symbols or objects used to identify the business. In some cases these were actual objects, such as an actual boar’s head hung above the doors. More commonly they were pictures. The White Pony had a literal picture of a white pony hung over the door.
The use of coats of arms seems to have been adopted by ex-military, whether professional soldiers or conscripts. That’s probably because the arms and colours of their unit were drummed into illiterate soldiers vigourously, it was one thing that they could be absolutely comfortable both identifying and drawing. So an ex-soldier opens a pub, he needs a sign, and he uses the arms of his old unit. This also has the advantage that, since most units drew from the same geographic area, it was also recognisable to other ex-soldiers and current soldiers.
I have never seen anything to suggest that the use of these arms indicated nay sort of official patronage or approval. They were just signs.
> [@Mr Downtown](#):
>
> ```
> I assume you're making the further connection that pubs often had sleeping rooms upstairs. In fact, I believe Australian pubs (at least in some states) are required to.
>
> ```
Not quite.
The term “pub” is purely colloquial, it just means “public house” as opposed to “private club”. Any business with a public liquor licence can call itself a pub: there are a great many “Irish pubs” in Australia that don’t offer accommodation.
Traditionally in Australia a pub was a hotel, but the terms aren’t actually synonymous. To qualify as a hotel a business has to have a public bar but it also has to offer accommodation and it has to offer two meals a day to the public and three meals to guests.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/16 "2011-10-08T02:56:11Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> Red Roof Inn are motels, not restaurants…
He’s Probably thinking of [Red Rob Inn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_robin).
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### Author:  [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2011, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/17 "2011-10-08T03:12:45Z")
You want a funny hotel name? How about Big Dick’s Halfway Inn. [http://halfway-inn.com/](http://halfway-inn.com/)
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/18 "2011-10-09T02:50:47Z")
Two arms! Two arms!
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2011, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/19 "2011-10-09T05:24:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I have never seen anything to suggest that the use of these arms indicated nay sort of official patronage or approval. They were just signs.
And possibly a way of sucking up to the local powers-that-be. It never hurts for the count or duke or whomever (or even the king or queen) to know that you like them.
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-funniest-hotel-name-on-earth/598955/20 "2011-10-09T14:41:30Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> In Baltimore can be found the quaint maritime neighborhood of Fell’s Point. Within its confines may be found the [Admiral Fell Inn](http://www.harbormagic.com/AdmiralFell/admiral_fell_default.asp). That one’s pretty funny.
Best, if they had an outhouse. 😃
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