# Wassamatta U. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 19, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wassamatta-u/240890 "2004-04-19T21:12:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wassamatta-u/240890/1 "2004-04-19T21:12:47Z")
What Cecil didn’t mention about Bullwinkle’s alma mater in [his column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_359a.html) is where WU is located. Frostbite Falls, MN. ---
**Author:** ![Heller\_Highwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@Heller\_Highwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heller_Highwater)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wassamatta-u/240890/2 "2004-04-20T19:35:38Z")
Well, I typed this up last night, and sometime between hitting Preview and hitting Submit, the board stopped responding to me. Oh well. 🙂 Anyway, here’s what I had at the time: Actually, I don’t believe the location of Wassamatta was ever given, other than that it was in Minnesota. (It was described as a “large Minnesota college”.) Frostbite Falls, on the other hand, was the hometown of Rocky and Bullwinkle. Specifically, it couldn’t have been the same town as Wassamatta, due to the fact that the football scouts that eventually found Bullwinkle “…got completely lost, and as a result, wound up in Frostbite Falls…” (As narrated in _The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Volume 8: Norman Moosewell_.) Why yes, I did just watch the tape almost solely to check on this (as I was wondering about this issue myself). No, I’m not a total nerd…why do you ask? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wassamatta-u/240890/3 "2004-04-20T22:20:22Z")
> [@Heller Highwater](#): > > Actually, I don’t believe the location of Wassamatta was ever given, other than that it was in Minnesota. (It was described as a “large Minnesota college”.) Frostbite Falls, on the other hand, was the hometown of Rocky and Bullwinkle. Specifically, it couldn’t have been the same town as Wassamatta, due to the fact that the football scouts that eventually found Bullwinkle “…got completely lost, and as a result, wound up in Frostbite Falls…” (As narrated in _The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Volume 8: Norman Moosewell_.) Mea culpa. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wassamatta-u/240890/4 "2004-04-21T04:27:41Z")
One must take into account, when considering Cecil’s answer to this most pertinent question, the lack of available research materials at the time the column was written – 1976. Sure, it’s easy for us to track down the answer to a Dudley Do-Right question. You and I can just pop a tape in the VCR, just insert the ol’ DVD to find out where Bullwinkle went to college. We couldn’t do that back in the day, I’ll tell you what! Dudley and Bullwinkle hadn’t been released on VHS yet. What’s more, nobody even had a VCR way back when in the dark ages. Yessir, it took some serious fact checkin’ to answer this one – no leaning back on the couch with a remote to come up with this gem of knowledge. Of course, where I lived they were still showing Bullwinkle on the independent channel in 1976. So, there was source material available. Still, it would have required much faithful drudgery to track down this answer. Plus, we had to walk 6 miles to school (each way, through blinding snow). And we liked it. ---
**Author:** ![Faldage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Faldage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faldage)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wassamatta-u/240890/5 "2004-04-21T14:13:16Z")
> [@AugestWest](#): > > Plus, we had to walk 6 miles to school (each way, through blinding snow). And we liked it. Not to mention having to walk all the way across the room just to change channels on the TV! And it was uphill both ways. Nuh-unh. You kids these days just don’t know how easy you got it. Harrumph®! ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wassamatta-u/240890/6 "2004-04-21T14:47:25Z")
> [@Faldage](#): > > Not to mention having to walk all the way across the room just to change channels on the TV! And it was uphill both ways. Nuh-unh. You kids these days just don’t know how easy you got it. Harrumph®! Across the room? We would have given our right arms for such luxury! Our television was across the street, and we had to dodge speeding cars to change channels. And it wasn’t a television, it was a radio. Kids! Don’t know you’re born. ---
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wassamatta-u/240890/7 "2004-04-21T15:22:44Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Across the room? We would have given our right arms for such luxury! Our television was across the street, and we had to dodge speeding cars to change channels. And it wasn’t a television, it was a radio. Kids! Don’t know you’re born. You had right arms?!? ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wassamatta-u/240890/8 "2004-04-21T16:36:08Z")
> [@Heller Highwater](#): > > Why yes, I did just watch the tape almost solely to check on this (as I was wondering about this issue myself). No, I’m not a total nerd…why do you ask? 😉 Ya might want to look at the tape again. As I recall, it was spelled Wossamotta. (I know, **Cecil** spelled it Wassamatta, but what does _he_ know. Uh, maybe I should rephrase that.) A quick Web search of “Norman Moosewell” confirms that spelling (and tempts me the buy they tapes I didn’t get the first time around). I also remember the scoreboard not changing in the “wide shots.” Rocky sends his regards.