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Comment by hodgesrm | Hacker News Reader

The coolest and most surprising part is that the tar pits are still there! Apparently the seeps have been there for tens of thousands of years. [0] (Fun LA tourist activity: jump in yourself and contribute to the fossil record.)

I was similarly surprised to find that something similar occurs on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. This came to many people's attention after the Macondo well blowout. [1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Brea_Tar_Pits

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09670...

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Fun fact: la brea means "the tar", so the La Brea Tar Pits literally translates to "the the tar tar pits".

Another joins the ranks of Chai Tea, Naan Bread, and Lake Michigan :D

To be fair, 'naan bread' is like 'toona fish' or 'feta cheese' which AmE does in English anyway.

The others I knew but Lake Michigan I did not, which prompted me to look it up:

> The name derives from a gallicized variant of the original Ojibwe word ᒥᓯᑲᒥ (mishigami),[c] meaning "large water" or "large lake".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan

TIL. To be fair, there is a whole landmass right next to that mishigami sharing a name we do need to distinguish it from.

It's kind of funny how much the sounds of mishigami feel like they could equally have come from Hebrew or Japanese. Interesting overlap of mouth-feel.

Related fun fact: The actual tar pits, and the art museum adjacent to it, are basically at the intersection of La Brea Blvd. and La Cienega Blvd., which translates to:

A main tourist attraction of LA is at the intersection of Tar Pits Blvd. and Swamp Blvd.

I quite enjoy visiting the La Brea Tar Pits and often do when I'm in LA. The geologist in me really enjoys seeing the natural oil seeps. The area around the museum has large open grassy areas. Often new seeps develop in the grass and you'll see an orange cone placed next to a new spot of oil with bubbles slowly growing and busting with the strong smell of tar/asphalt.

Yeah – they put cones around the park where the tar is still peeking through the grass. Watch your step!

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