Darn you, Captain George!

Close but no cigar! According to Google, over 490 kilometers separate the two Vancouvers.

The owner of the Go Green bottle depot told a bit of a funny story — newsworthy in itself, given he’s from England, but I digress.

Seems he was on the phone with someone for a good while before they both realized they weren’t in the same Vancouver. The person on the other end thought Go Green was in Vancouver, Washington — across the border in the United States, rather than Vancouver, British Columbia — in Canada. Even the Go Green owner’s directions for getting to the depot were misconstrued. When he said “come down Main,” as in Main Street, the person heard “Blaine,” as in Blaine, Washington.

This is mostly down to George Vancouver (1757-1798), a British naval officer, and serial place-namer. Vancouver Island, Canada; the cities of Vancouver, B.C., Canada and Vancouver, Washington, US; Mount Vancouver on the Yukon/Alaska border and New Zealand’s fourth highest mountain are all named after him.

Making a name for himself.

We can’t blame it all on George Vancouver, The Web can probably take some credit. You could imagine that the person in Vancouver WA googled “vancouver bottle depot,” and went from there. The Go Green Home page doesn’t specify “British Columbia,” And an American would naturally assume “Washington State.” Click on the map to enlarge it.