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Ragged Ass Road received its controversial name from a couple of drunk prospectors before the city simply gave in and made it official. Its original name wasn't much better.
In 1970, prospector Lou Rocher was sitting around with his drinking buddies after a long, fruitless day of work for very little pay, and joked that they should name their street Ragged Ass Road, meaning it was "dirt poor." While the new moniker may sound crass, the road was known previously as "Privy Road" because it had so many outhouses. Since Rocher owned six of the nine lots on the infamous road, the local man thought—correctly, it seems—that he should be able to name it. The name quickly caught on, and eventually the city adopted it officially.
Today tourist shops all over Yellowknife sell T-shirts, stickers, and mock street signs bearing the name. The road sign itself was stolen so many times over the years that the city had to resort to welding the sign to its pole to prevent further theft. Ragged Ass Road even made national news in 2012 when a Westjet flight attendant humiliated a passenger by demanding he remove his shirt, which depicted the road's sign.
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May 29, 2014
