👉 Okay, let’s tackle this wonderfully prickly little outcrop of a word! Now, when you hear the name "Barstown," what immediately springs to mind probably isn't much beyond a vaguely kitschy roadside motel and the lingering scent of desperation and bad Salisbury steak (thanks, Peggy Sue!).
Let's actually unpack that. Barstown essentially describes somewhere—usually a small, rather beige American town—that is on the verge of spectacular, almost aggressively noticeable, failure. It’s where the slow-motion unraveling begins . 1983 Burt Reynolds would be filming a western there. The local economy runs entirely on beige. There are tumbleweeds, but not the pretty kind. They're the "this is the last thing I see before the blacktop swallows me whole" kind. The word itself comes from the somewhat unfortunate misspelling of a Western town named Barlow. You know—the sort of place that had a good six months and then promptly forgot it existed. 1957 Chevy Bel Aires would be sitting in the middle of the street, gathering rust. That is Barstown. It isn't pretty; there is no hope here. Basically, you don't want to want to go to a Barstown. You stumble upon one. They are where dreams go when they get really, really bad and then promptly give up. 350 Buick Cutl lashes of the road
