Subject: Very Odd Place Names
Posted by: Cymruambyth
Date: Jul 27 08
How about sharing some of the strange place names in your country, state, province, whatever. In Alberta, there's a place called Jumping Pound, which is close to a high bluff over which native people would drive bison. The poor beasts would be killed by the fall and there'd be plenty of meat for the camp! In Newfoundland, there's a place called Joe Batt's Arm and another called Come By Chance. I don't know how they got their names. My favourite strange place name, though, is a place in Herefordshire called Wormlow-under-the-Tump, and, no, I don't know how it got its name, either. Have you any items to add?
Posted by: Cymruambyth
Date: Jul 27 08
How about sharing some of the strange place names in your country, state, province, whatever. In Alberta, there's a place called Jumping Pound, which is close to a high bluff over which native people would drive bison. The poor beasts would be killed by the fall and there'd be plenty of meat for the camp! In Newfoundland, there's a place called Joe Batt's Arm and another called Come By Chance. I don't know how they got their names. My favourite strange place name, though, is a place in Herefordshire called Wormlow-under-the-Tump, and, no, I don't know how it got its name, either. Have you any items to add?
147 replies. On page 4 of 8 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
NCW75 
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Sahara means desert so you have the 'Desert' Desert. In Perth (WA) we also have the Avon River that goes through Northam and changes its name to the Swan. And Rottnest Island (off the coast of WA near Fremantle) was so called because Dutch captain Willem De Vlamingh named it after the quokkas (small marsupials) which he thought were rats. The original name was Rattenest (Rats nest) which was later anglicised to Rottnest. Reply #61. Mar 05 09, 12:40 AM |
foosyerdoos
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There is a place in Aberdeenshire called "Lost". It is a tiny hamlet and is, ironically, very hard to find now as everybody kept nicking the road sign for it. Reply #62. Mar 05 09, 12:48 AM |
golfmom08
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Florida has a place called Weeki Wachi. They still have Mermaid shows in the spring fed lake. Reply #63. Mar 05 09, 11:59 AM |
gtsnm
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Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, wales. Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayamahadilokphopnopparatrajathaniburiromudomrajaniwesmahasatharnamornphimarnavatarnsathit- sakkattiyavisanukamprasit, Thailand. St. Elmo, AL, Dead Horse, AK, Monkey's Eybrow, AZ, Christman, FL, Homerville GA, Santa Claus, IN, Beebeetown, IA, Gas and smileyberg, KS, Hippo and Shoulderblade, KY, Waterproof, LA, Mount Desert Island, ME, Boring and Crappo, MD, Cummaquid, MA, Gay, MI, Bobo, MS, Pumpkin Center,MO Skidmore, MO, Truth or Consequences, NM, Flushing, NY, Kill Devil Hills, NC, Can Do, ND, Buissnessburg, OH, Happyland, OK, Boring and Half.com, OR, Stalker, PA, North, SC, Eaglebutte, SD, Cut and Shoot, Gun Barrel City, Tiki Island, and Ben Franklin, TX, Walla Walla, WA, Odd, WV, and Bairoil, WY. Reply #64. Mar 06 09, 6:31 PM |
Cymruambyth
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gtsnm, not many people know that the original name was Llanfairpwllgwyngyll and that am 18th century Welsh poet added all the rest in a poem satirizing Welsh place names. Reply #65. Mar 10 09, 9:11 PM |
chick18nor
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In Norway there is a place called Hell. Reply #66. Mar 11 09, 2:07 PM |
KayceeKool
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In South Africa we have a town called Hot-as-Hell and believe me, in summer it is. In case, any South Africans are joining this thread, we also have Tweebuffelsmeteenskootdoodgeskietfontein. For those of you who are don't speak Afrikaans, it means Two buffalos shot dead with one bullet fountain. Reply #67. Mar 18 09, 9:22 AM |
Arpeggionist
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In Norwegian, Hell means hole. There is, however, a town called Hell in Michigan, which is stranger. Did I mention the Israeli Kibbutz "Ashachim" (which is Hebrew for "testacles")? Reply #68. Mar 18 09, 11:41 AM |
Datsmeharse
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There's a town called Hell on Grand Cayman Island too, it looks like the suface of the moon. People buy postcards to send to their friends: "Greetings from Hell" lol. Reply #69. Mar 20 09, 4:50 PM |
| BaronBatty
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Iron Knob, South Australia. Reply #70. Jul 25 10, 8:39 AM |
| beachbumb101
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I visited some family in SC last weekend and I went to a place called Monks Corner. There was once a monistary in Monks Corner and that's how it got the name. Reply #71. Jul 31 10, 10:37 AM |
Qmel
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Iowa has its share of unusual names, Beebeetown already has been mentioned, but there are more... Zwingle Fertile Manly Argyle Rake Waubeek Le Roy Steamboat Rock Reply #72. Aug 01 10, 7:43 PM |
tezza1551
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When I worked in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, I used to regularly drive past a siding called "Damboring" ! (And it was - nothing but several large wheatbins ) Reply #73. Aug 01 10, 7:50 PM |
| Lochalsh
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There's always What Cheer, Iowa. Reply #74. Aug 01 10, 8:28 PM |
| Lochalsh
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Carl Albert, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was born in Bug Tussle, Oklahoma. I noticed an earlier post about Gayville, South Dakota. It must be the companion city of Dyke, Virginia. Reply #75. Aug 01 10, 8:30 PM |
| Cymruambyth
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Lochalsh, you're cheeky! More odd place names - Black Tickle, Newfoundland Humptulips, Washington Podunk - not only one Podink, but four! One each in Connecticut, Missouri, New York and Vermont. I have a second cousin who lives in Quidhampton in Wiltshire. What's funny about that relatively sensible name, you ask. Evidently its a cleaned up version of the old English phrase meaning "Home of the people who are well known for the dung of their cattle." I'm not making this up, folks! Reply #76. Aug 01 10, 11:00 PM |
spidersghost43
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Wasn't Bug Tussle where the Clampetts were from (although I think there Bug Tussle was somwhere in the Ozarks not Okla.) Reply #77. Aug 02 10, 5:50 AM |
Jomarion
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This is not profanity nor am I trying to be rude! There really is a River Piddle In Dorset! Reply #78. Aug 07 10, 12:14 PM |
irishrusty
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I went to Kentucky once and we drove by a place called Bone Lick and another called Knob Lick. Reply #79. Aug 07 10, 2:11 PM |
| Lochalsh
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I'm not sure, but I think a "lick" is a place where animals go to feed, specifically on salt. At any rate, it's a fairly common toponym in the U.S. I've driven through French Lick, Indiana, a rural setting, several times. Reply #80. Aug 07 10, 2:52 PM |
147 replies. On page 4 of 8 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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