Travelers Confronted by a Contrary Knob
One of my favorite place names is Contrary Knob, a 2,500-foot summit in Garrett County, between Deep Creek Lake and Savage River Reservoir. I know absolutely nothing about the origin of this name. Was the mountain itself somehow contrary, or did it become synonymous with a contrary person who lived on it? My ignorance would make this short entry even shorter, if not for the fact that “knob” is vulgar British slang for “penis” – and thus, at least since 1920, has been a British term for “an annoying, unpleasant, or idiotic person (esp. a man or boy),” so that an online search for the phrase “contrary knob” is likely to turn up a lot of insults. The use of “knob” as an insult is becoming common in the States, too, and writer Ben Yagoda noted that it spiked online shortly after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack, “surely because so many knobs have been acting knobbish in this country in recent days.” “Maryland’s panhandle comprises a rolling succession of rises with f...