h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good idea for an entry, Gnomon.

Jerusalem was traditionally the centre of the world - for this reason, maps like the Mappa Mundi show it at the centre, I believe,

Arcul de Triumf in Bucuresti:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfg9U_HYkaY

On a Saturday night, it is the centre for 'abducted' brides to party on while they wait for their embarrassed grooms to pay the 'ransom' (usually a shopping cartload of booze for the relatives, plus a declaration of undying love for the bride).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7f3fn9Ielc

Easter Island has a traditional poetical appelation, "Navel of the World", on the same line of longitude as what is nowadays the central USA, traditionally referred to as "The Heartland".

The Omphalos of Delphi was also the navel of the world.

>U.S. Rte 1, which runs [or ran] from Northern Maine down to Florida

How confusing! the California State Highway 1 runs up the west coast!

Jules Verne, of course, had a completely different interpretation of "the centre of the earth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_1

Jules Verne's center was a fantasy. I doubt that you'd see much light down there.

A more modern [2003] story is the movie "The Core," which entails drilling a hole to the center to avert global catastrophe
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298814/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Of course, most critics thought that the movie itself was a catastrophe

If you find yourself on US route 1 and confuse it for the PCH you may be having some serious drug reactions.

Might there be some confusion between Interstate-5 and Mexico's Federal Highway 1? The latter is a continuation of the former.

Or, maybe it's that California State highway 1 has its southern terminus at Interstate 5 [near Dana point in orange Point] and its northern terminus at U.S. Highway 101 (US 101) near Leggett in Mendocino County. But I'm the wrong person to ask, as I can easily get lost when roads take on different identities. I'm always finding myself on some exit I didn't mean to take.

Yeah, like when I lived near Valley Forge, and kept ending up at Washington's Headquarters...

Washington? Is he still there?

It could have been worse. You could have ended up at the headquarters for the Vanguard Family of mutual funds.

True.

George is not there. But there's a menacing herd of deer that make driving hazardous...

Yes, but moose would be even worse.

That reminds me. Elk is an interesting word.

More interesting than 'whelk'?

When the first English-speaking settlers went to America, they came from an agricultural rural background. They hadn't ever seen a deer, or an elk. They knew that deer were smaller and elks were bigger.

When they arrived in America, the land was much wilder than at home, so they very soon encountered big, four-legged animals. The first of them was bloody huge so they concluded it must be an elk and they called it that. It was in fact a red deer. So red deer are called elks in America.

Then they came across another even bigger creature. They had no idea what this was so they asked the locals - that's a 'moose', they were told, so they have used the name moose for this creature ever since. It was in fact an elk, so elks are called 'moose' in America.

Fascinating, but how did the Scots come to call a small creature a moose?

And the French apply it to a fluffy chocolate dessert.

The evolution of language.

Considering that the Latin for mouse is mus, the Scottish pronunciation is probably older than the English one.

The Chinese call a cat a 'mao', rhyming with cow. It's a good name.