Strangest Place names you have known

[rawbone8]

From Ontario, Canada:

(I'm imagining those old colonial days when a British land surveyor or cartographer would ask the local Indians about the place names that were in use, and the natives might jokingly tell him a whopper, tongue in cheek, and into the ledger it would go, duly translated into English)

Crotch Lake

Honey Harbour

Sucker Creek
(not to be confused with the Sucker River in Saskatchewan)

 

[Gillette]

In Nova Scotia we have places that are divided into lower, middle and upper portions. I found the name Lower Economy a pessimistic choice for a town but what do I know, having grown up in Lower Sackville.

Barely worth a smirk but I've also lived in Bedford and Downsview
And if the word "duty" (doody) makes you chuckle to yourself you might also like the names Yarmouth and Dartmouth.

 

[Ethyl]

How could I forget? I passed through Odd, West Virginia last week.

I also remember driving through Peculiar, MO.

 

[B_horribleperson]

if ive said it once ive said it a million times you brits are a bunch of silly people

 

[dong20]

if ive said it once ive said it a million times you brits are a bunch of silly people

And I've told you a billion times not to exaggerate.:tongue:

 

[dong20]

How could I forget? I passed through Odd, West Virginia last week.

I also remember driving through Peculiar, MO.

There are a pair of villages just up the road from me, called the Hadhams. More particularly Little Hadham and Much Hadham.

A couple of others also nearby are Freezy Water and Cold Christmas. I do like those especially.

 

[agnslz]

I'll add a few Welsh place names that are hard to spell and pronounce.

Cwmbran
Rhossllanerchrugog
Llandrindrod (I've always pronounced it as "Lanindrod")

Here in New Mexico we have a few strange and hard to spell or pronounce names as well.

Pedernal (I've always pronounced it as "Perdenal")
Truth or Consequences (named for a fifties TV game show)
Abiquiu (growing up, I'd see this name and think it was Albuquerque)

Albuquerque itself is a pretty strange name. I always hear people mispronounce it. Many people also have trouble even spelling it. It originally was "Alburquerque", with that extra "R" in it. That is really hard to pronounce in english! In spanish it is actually easier to pronounce that way than "Albuquerque" is. It is an spanish name. My hometown, Albuquerque is named for a Spanish Duke, the Duke of Alburquerque. There is the original Alburquerque in Spain, one in Portugal and many in South America as well. Alburquerque, in Spanish, means "white oak" or "cork" tree. It is also used as a last name! An artist who worked on the new Catholic cathedral in Los Angeles has Albuquerque as her last name. In the sixties here, there was a foreign-exchange student from Brazil, whose last name was also Albuquerque. She went to Albuquerque High School!

Elsewhere in the world, some more strange place names.

French Lick, Indiana
Foggy Bottom in DC
Lake Titicaca (can't believe it hasn't already been mentioned)
Bangkok, Thailand (ditto)

Last but not least.
Lavacola, Spain (which literally means "wash your ass" in english!:biggrin1:

 

[dcwrestlefan]

not as good as the PA ones but...

accident, maryland
flintstone, maryland (yabba dabba doo!!!)
boring, maryland
dyke, virginia

there is a church in cecil county, maryland that faces interstate 95. it is called "our lady of the highways". always thought that was corny as hell.
(excuse me jesus) the virgin mary is facing the freeway in an otherwise rural setting.

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

There are certain American place names that I find appealing, they're just fun to say, to my English ears they're quaint and unusual, Poughkeepsie, Adirondacks, Spokane, they're just names you wouldn't find in the UK. Do some of the places in the UK sound as funny yet cute to Americans. I can't really see Bognor Regis having the same appeal.

 

[Garth33]

There are certain American place names that I find appealing, they're just fun to say, to my English ears they're quaint and unusual, Poughkeepsie, Adirondacks, Spokane, they're just names you wouldn't find in the UK. Do some of the places in the UK sound as funny yet cute to Americans. I can't really see Bognor Regis having the same appeal.

Liverpool? why not Kidneypool? makes more sense:biggrin1:
How about Walla Walla Washington?

 

[TxRanger]

Apes Hall in Norfolk
Dorking, Surrey
Folly Gate, Devon
Lower Down and Willey, Shrops.
Mousehole, Cornwall

Of course you can't forget Monkey's Eyebrow, Arizona, Bushland Texas or Happyland Oklahoma

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

Bury My Heart at Lower Down and Willey doesn't have the same ring

 

[TxRanger]

i forgot beaver creek colorado

 

[agnslz]

Any of the Welsh names do it for me.

 

[2322]

Are you serious????

The UK has some GREAT name places!! Even one of the longest placenames in the world. Believe me, we have nothing to compete with:
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch

nor can any American begin to pronounce:

Ysgwydd-gwyn-isaf

And let's here it for such fascinating places as:

Mousehole
Chipshop
Holes Hole
Crank
Overend
Boot
Inches
Retire
Dull
Gweek
Dursley (Yes Virgina, there really is a Dursley)
Old

Then there are the simply ridiculous:

Stratford Tony
Piddlehinton
Staple Fitzpaine
Bovey Tracey
Gummows Shop
Goonbell
Little Sinns
Higher Brill
Nasty
Wyre Piddle


And the oddly sexual:

Twat
Sandy Balls
Bell End
Minge Lane
Cocks
Brown Willy
Mudchute
Muff
Asick Bottom
Happy Bottom
Bishops Itchington
Buttocks Booth
Titty Hill
Wet Wang
Penistone

What the hell???

Shingay cum Wendy
Friars Entry
Shitterton
Pity Me
Dead
Horsey Windpump
Nether Wallop


There are far far more.

The strangest placename in the US is likely, Truth or Consequences, NM. It's a town named after a television game show.

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

I suppose it's a case of what you grow up with doesn't sound strange Jason.

 

[whatireallywant]

I always got a giggle from French Lick, IN (hometown of Larry Bird). Indiana is funny anyway... South Bend is up north, North Vernon is down south, and French Lick is nothing like it sounds! :biggrin1:

Another funny one is Floyds Knobs, IN. (good ol' Floyd...)

And then of course there's Santa Claus, IN.

 

[dannymawg]

Fucking, Austria

:biggrin1:

Hate to state the obvious, but a great many places here have names derived from North American Indian dialects - then watered down as non-natives tried to pronounce them and put them into print. The same method used to water down European surnames as they came through Ellis Island (my own included).

Perhaps that's the source of your interest, SP - all three examples you name are native American Indian in nature.

And sadly, perhaps the only way my forebears could pay any proper dignity for raping their land.

 

[Mandee]

OMG you all are going to love this one! I use to live in a town called....


Protection, Kansas!!

It's a real town, look it up.

 

[drumstyck]

Weehawken, NJ always made me laugh.