# They'll hear about this in Timbuktu!!!!!!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 8, 2007, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001 "2007-07-08T23:45:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2007, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/1 "2007-07-08T23:45:47Z")
“They’ll hear about this in Timbuktu!!!”
“I had to drive all the way to Timbuktu to find it”
I used to hear people say these things more so years ago, but every now and then someone will utter it.
Why Timbuktu? Where did these says come from? Some book or movie?
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### Author:  [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/2 "2007-07-08T23:50:37Z")
Because not only is it a far away, exotic place, but the word is fun to say? They are saying word of the event will reach the ends of the world, in essence. I don’t know where it came from though.
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### Author:  [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/3 "2007-07-08T23:57:36Z")
I’m not sure if the OP realizes this, but Timbuktu is a real place. It’s a city in what is now Mali, and the name is probably spelled differently these days–I think I’ve seen “Tombouctou”.
Being a crossroads in the middle of the African desert, Timbuktu was considered remote and exotic by Europeans and Americans.
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/4 "2007-07-09T00:04:58Z")
In Spice Up Your Life by The Spice Girls there’s a line “Yellow Man in Timbuktu…” etc.
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### Author:  [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/5 "2007-07-09T00:07:30Z")
In the 1930s, maybe even the 1920s, there was a popular song “What do they do on Saturday night in Timbuctoo?” A friend of mine in the Peace Corps visited Timbuctoo about 30 years ago and said that in spite of its past glory today it wasn’t worth the trip.
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/6 "2007-07-09T00:55:54Z")
[QUOTE=WF Tomba]
I’m not sure if the OP realizes this, but Timbuktu is a real place. It’s a city in what is now Mali, and the name is probably spelled differently these days–I think I’ve seen “Tombouctou”.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I know. I also know what the saying means.
I’m just wondering if it has an actual origin like a movie or book, or if people just started saying it because of it’s remoteness.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/7 "2007-07-09T02:00:06Z")
There was a band in the eighties called Timbukthree. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/8 "2007-07-09T02:13:44Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace]
Timbukthree. 🙂
[/QUOTE]
With such a bright future, shouldn’t Mr. Smiley face wear shades? 🆒
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/9 "2007-07-09T02:29:40Z")
[QUOTE=pkbites]
Yeah, I know. I also know what the saying means.
I’m just wondering if it has an actual origin like a movie or book, or if people just started saying it because of it’s remoteness.
[/QUOTE]
[Answers.com](http://www.answers.com/topic/timbuktu?cat=travel) claims it has been used in that sense since 1863, but does not list the cite:
> [@](#):
>
> In Europe and the Middle East, the city’s remoteness enhanced its charm. In the English language, as the city’s prosperity became only a distant memory, the name Timbuktu came to stand for any remote place, a usage we find as long ago as 1863.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/10 "2007-07-09T02:43:01Z")
Timbucktu was at the edge of the Sahara, the extreme north of the Sahel, in the old French Sudan (present Republic of Mali) and hence the extreme of remoteness among populated areas in early-20th-Century popular conception.
Timbucktu is also in downtown Dexter, NY, just off NYS Highway 180. Excellent beer selection for a small-town bar and grill, and wonderful wings. Do not order a cheeseburger.
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/11 "2007-07-09T03:12:38Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself]
[Answers.com](http://www.answers.com/topic/timbuktu?cat=travel) claims it has been used in that sense since 1863, but does not list the cite:
[/QUOTE]
It’s a good start to my question, though. Thanks. 🙂
[QUOTE=Polycarp]
Timbucktu is also in downtown Dexter, NY, just off NYS Highway 180. Excellent beer selection for a small-town bar and grill, and wonderful wings. Do not order a cheeseburger.
[/QUOTE]
Alright, I’ll bite.
Why?
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### Author:  [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/12 "2007-07-09T03:51:22Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp]
Timbucktu was at the edge of the Sahara, the extreme north of the Sahel, in the old French Sudan (present Republic of Mali) and hence the extreme of remoteness among populated areas in early-20th-Century popular conception.
Timbucktu is also in downtown Dexter, NY, just off NYS Highway 180. Excellent beer selection for a small-town bar and grill, and wonderful wings. Do not order a cheeseburger.
[/QUOTE]
Well, hell. Why not?
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/13 "2007-07-09T05:44:35Z")
At its peak Timbuktu was famous far and wide as a center of learning and scholarship, and for its prosperity due to the West African caravan trade in valuable commodities like gold and salt. It’s declined quite a bit since then, but that is probably the reason it is popularly remembered to this day for its remoteness if little else. If it hadn’t once been famous and great, it wouldn’t be remembered at all.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/14 "2007-07-09T12:16:32Z")
In addition to the remoteness and exotic locale already mentioned, I suspect the name had (or has) that tinge of comedy that so many other names have had in songs, sayings and catchphrases. Other candidates:
Kalamazoo
Bumfuk, Egypt (this one is fictional, I think)
Kathmandu
Tipperary
Tripoli (as in _Shores of_)
Walla Walla
Chattanooga
I wager we could develop a list of at least 50 such places.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/15 "2007-07-09T12:25:47Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar]
I wager we could develop a list of at least 50 such places.
[/QUOTE]
Anaheim, Azuza, and Cuc-amonga!
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### Author:  [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/16 "2007-07-09T13:07:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Do NOT order a cheeseburger
[QUOTE=pkbites]
Alright, I’ll bite.
[/QUOTE]
How you gonna bite, if you don’t order the cheesburger?
(sorry, but I couldn’t resist…)
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/17 "2007-07-09T13:15:29Z")
I’d always wondered about Timbuktu, as well, enough to look it up.
Among the places it shows up in pop culture are the Disney movie **The Aristocats** (the butler arranges to ship Duchess and her kittens to Timbuktu, but ends up getting sent there himself), and in Kurt Vonnegut play and indiee movie **Between Time and Timbuktu** 9where it only shows up in the title).
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/18 "2007-07-09T13:20:53Z")
In one word, grease.
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### Author:  [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/19 "2007-07-09T16:04:30Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar]
…
Walla Walla
…
I wager we could develop a list of at least 50 such places.
[/QUOTE]
How can you mention Walla Walla, Wash. but _not_ Kalamazoo?
(What _do_ they teach these kids in school these days?)
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyll-hear-about-this-in-timbuktu/411001/20 "2007-07-09T16:13:58Z")
[QUOTE=rjk]
How can you mention Walla Walla, Wash. but _not_ Kalamazoo?
(What _do_ they teach these kids in school these days?)
[/QUOTE]
Please read the quoted post – all of it.
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