# Where is smithereens??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999 "2004-12-09T21:10:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/21 "2004-12-10T09:15:42Z")
> [@tygerbryght](#): > > _How loud is she screaming?_ Loud enough to wake the dead, approximately. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/22 "2004-12-10T12:29:16Z")
Since when was smithereens a place? If you say someone’s “gone to pieces”, does that make “pieces” a place? ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/23 "2004-12-10T12:35:03Z")
My maiden name was Southern and I married a Smith. The child and I are about to legally become Smithern. Stupid? Yes! Better then Smith? OH YES! ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/24 "2004-12-10T12:57:43Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > My maiden name was Southern and I married a Smith. > > The child and I are about to legally become Smithern. Stupid? Yes! Better then Smith? OH YES! You could merge it too: Smouth. Back on topic, where the heck is \*\* BFE\*\*? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/25 "2004-12-10T13:33:12Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Back on topic, where the heck is \*\* BFE\*\*? In the hearts of every teenager who’s attended a rural beer party in Pennsylvania. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/26 "2004-12-10T14:43:51Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > How tough is a tittie? Depends. Did the milk run dry? ---
**Author:** ![RevCo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@RevCo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RevCo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/27 "2004-12-10T15:13:47Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > Not believe in Smithereens! You might as well not believe in a gazillion samoleans! You might as well not believe in gizmos that can make fantabulous dohickeys! > > No Smithereens? Thank God it exist and it exists forever. A thousand years from now, **rippingtons\_fan** , nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, it will continue to make glad the heart of all who like things blown up real good. > > Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! Thanks - I was laughing out loud when I read most of these posts, but this one was very funny! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/28 "2004-12-10T15:28:04Z")
> [@Slithy Tove](#): > > Area: Seventeen all over Hell’s Half Acres equals 1 way the fuck and beyond. Shouldn’t that be one _square_ way the fuck and beyond? ---
**Author:** ![velvetjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f9b8f/32.png) [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/29 "2004-12-10T15:35:02Z")
I find myself wondering: when the cows come home have they been partying over in Smithereens or BFE? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/30 "2004-12-10T15:36:55Z")
> [@velvetjones](#): > > I find myself wondering: when the cows come home have they been partying over in Smithereens or BFE? That depends. Are they stumbling or giggling? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/31 "2004-12-10T15:43:32Z")
I thought it was a deep dark closet. You mean it doesn’t have anything to do with Waylon Smithers? ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/32 "2004-12-10T15:52:37Z")
I’ve looked on many maps, even googled, but I’ve never found _Outer Fucking Mongolia_. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/33 "2004-12-10T16:35:10Z")
Seven “in a flash” equals “two shakes of a lamb’s tail.” “Two shakes of a lamb’s tail” equals half a “millibleem.” The cows come home when the green mountainside turns brown, but before the snow is “ass-deep to a tall Indian.” (not the kind from India) “The inside of a moose” is nine-tenths as dark as “the ace of spades.” At night, though, they are equally dark. “Falling off a log” is easier than “pie.” That’s eating pie, not making it. Making pie is eight-tenths as hard as “Chinese arithmetic.” The difference between “since Shep was a pup” and “since the pigs ate Grampaw” varies widely from family to family. " 'Round Robin Hood’s barn" is 1.8 “way the Hell and gones.” “Gonna knock you into next Wednesday” is roughly equivalent to “gon’ hit you so hard, you gon’ hum like a ten-penny finishin’ nail been hit by a greasy ball-peen hammer.” ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/34 "2004-12-10T16:46:38Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > I’ve looked on many maps, even googled, but I’ve never found _Outer Fucking Mongolia_. It’s a regional nickname, equivalent to “East Bumfuque” ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/35 "2004-12-10T16:52:28Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > Ever since I heard the song, I’ve been patiently waiting for someone to take me there… One goes _down_ to Funkytown, if you catch my drift. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/36 "2004-12-10T19:17:12Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Back on topic, where the heck is \*\* BFE\*\*? That would be Butte Fuque, Egypt, an insignificant rocky area of that country with many hiding places discovered by two members of the French Foreign Legion in 1912, who were never able to explain to the satisfaction of their superiors just why they had been found there wearing no pants (pantalons en Francais). It can be found on the featureless area in the southwest corner of [this map](http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/egypt.gif). Over time, the name was “Americanized”. During the North African campaign of WWII, Rommel’s forces were routed by strategic used of Le Butte Fuque. Army strategist Lancelot Swish was assigned the task of placing as much mobile armor in the small box canyons in the area in order to create an effective ambush. Swish was able to devise a highly efficient plan for hiding the tanks compactly, “like chocolates in a box”, to use the words of his official proposal to his general. The operation proved a success, and although Swish himself was dishonorably discharged for acts unbecoming a military officer commited with an Egyptian youth, his contributions to the war effort were immortalized by the nickname he bore to the end of his days: “Fudgepacker”. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999/37 "2004-12-11T00:11:36Z")
I’d say we’ve taken this thread farther than it deserved to go. Closed. **samclem** GQ moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-smithereens/278999.md?page=1)