Or have deranged boosters and desperate civic organizations hellbent on reviving the local economy threatened to break journalists' legs if they leave some jerkwater dump off the list of the 10 Best Places to Spend Your Golden Years?

WSJ: Joe Queenan on Lists of Best Cities to Live In | Moving Targets

In one, he captures the experience of being from a "jerkwater" town: a village so small that steam-train crews had to "jerk" water up from streams or from people holding buckets along the tracks because there was no water tower from which to refill the engine.

WSJ: Hey, Who Are You Calling a Snob?