Community Corner

How the Heck Did 'Log Jam' Get a 'Vulgar' Meaning Anyway?

'The Big Lebowski," Urban Dictionary cited by Stillwater Patch and Facebook commenters.

Part of the blame stays in Minnesota for the phrase "log jam" (as in the "Stillwater Log Jam" festival) meaning anything other than sawn tree trunks clogging a riverway. 

Native Minnesotan filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen chose the title Logjammin' for a risqué German movie-within-a-movie seen briefly on a TV set in their 1998 comedy The Big Lebowski


The term also appears with a sexual definition in the online Urban Dictionary—where many everyday words are assigned X-rated meanings. 

(Note: Neither is entirely appropriate for all ages. The movie clip, available on YouTube, has very fleeting nudity, while the Urban Dictionary entry is, typically, raunchy.)


Stillwater Patch commenters have been making sly references to the non-lumber connotations of the term since the name surfaced as a possible substitute for Lumberjack Days when Stillwater's summer festival is revived: 

Nov. 8, 2013: "Logjammin. I am here to fix eine cable..."

Jan. 17, 2014: "Um, how shall I say this… Stillwater Log Jam sounds like sort of a comedic take on certain "acts" which are not amenable to a family friendly atmosphere. That being said, if they pick it it'll be great joke material."

Jan. 23, 2014: "Nice to see they wised up on the pageant, but the name certainly sounds like a bad porno."

What do you think about the name "Stillwater Log Jam"? Leave a comment below. 
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