Back in my early twenties I was living in a village called Fishkill. For this area it’s not an unusual name, there are a lot of towns in the area with kill in their names. One day PETA came to town and insisted the village name should be changed to Fishsave, since they believe the killing of fish is cruel. (I think dead fish are yummy!) Of course the people of the village just laughed at them and it’s still called Fishkill to this day.

However, if PETA had done a “little” homework they would have discovered their assumption of the name was ignorant and kill doesn’t always mean kill. The area was originally settled by the Dutch (who don’t speak English obviously) way back in the 1600’s and kill is their word for creek. Yes, there is a creek running through the village, that must have had fish in it at one point (when I lived there not so much), so hence the name Fishkill or fish creek. There is also a Wallkill, Peekskill and Plattekill in the area, apparently there are a lot of creeks around and the Dutch weren’t that imaginative in their selection of village names. Also let’s not forget the Catskill Mountains, that can’t make PETA happy either. Remember never ass(u)me.

There is also state prison nearby, which might actually have killers in it. People sometimes consider murders to be animals based on their actions. Maybe PETA should have gone there since it is also named Fishkill and that name is cruel to the animals aka murders. Plus the state doesn’t have a death penalty, so it’s taunting the prisoners with the word kill in the prison name. Maybe it reminds them that their now up the kill without a paddle?