What's your favourite place name?

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Hi Kate you botard. What about Valatie ( vuh lay sha). Or Lebanon Valley.

― Pennysong Hanle y, Friday, 14 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

buttfucke, montana

― Geoff, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Minnesota: good for silly names.

Brainerd, MN (no brains, no nerds). My mother's house backs on to Minnehaha Creek. St Paul has Cretin High School.

and aND AND! I cannot believe the lack of mention for...

INTERCOURSE, Pennsylvania.

― suzy, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Tow Law, Esh Winning and Wideopen all very real. In deepest darkest county Durham in the heart of the old coal mining industries, parts of which are close to Tony Blairs constituency. They're about as different from Tuscany as you could probably get.

Esh Winning is just a few miles from Langley Park which featured on a Prefab Sprout LP.

― Billy Dods, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Nagorno-Karabakh

― dave q, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"And there's the River Piddle. I'm pretty sure it was "Piddletown" and "Tolpiddle"" I live near villages called Wyre Piddle and Upper Piddle, which caused much merriment when I was a youngster.
Now though, I find very little amuses me.

― DavidM, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I like the names:

Toronto
Acton

― jel, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Mike, go sniff some glue out back behind the woodshop with the other botards.

Maria, my mum lives just West of Albany.

― kate, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

There's a tiny rural hamlet in Holland called 'Hell'. I once spent a hazy summer's afternoon with a friend trying to locate it. After much map searching, and asking alarmed looking locals for directions, we finally found it. A small idyllic looking collection of farm houses one of which doubled up as a guest-house. Holiday in Hell anyone?

― stevo, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

According to some sources, Bay Shore (my home) was called Sodom for a brief moment in the 19th Century.

― Michael Daddino, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Ever been to Pinvin, David?

― Robin Carmody, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

There's a Hell in Michigan, too! I've been there, and sent postcards to my whole family saying "Well ya all thought I was goin' to Hell... well, now I'm finally here!"

― kate, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

St Louis Du Ha! Ha!

For real, see proof...

Picture taken two weeks ago in Quebec.

― Kim, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

oh, sorry... they must have just started blocking pictures. Used to work. :(

― Kim, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Suzy, I have a dog-eared copy of the Intercourse News somewhere at home. I went to Intercourse and then on to Paradise (they're neighbouring villages) - don't know why I mentioned one and not the other.

To the smut list I add Brest in France and to the non-dirty, Pity Me in County Durham (I think) - the name is thought to be a derivation of Petit Mer.

― Madchen, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I've always giggled like a little kid whenever I see the signs for "Crested Butte", but another favorite of mine is Gallup, New Mexico. I used to eat blue corn oatmeal there.

― Mandee Wright, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Ouagadougou- capital of Burkina Faso

― ian, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I've always liked how so many of Philadelphia's suburbs have Welsh names or are named after places in Wales (Bala Cynwyd, Haverford, Elwyn, Moylan, Gwynedd Valley, Ambler, Penllyn). Someone else has mentioned Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Then there's also Jim Thorpe, PA. Pennsylvania is chockful of oddball town names.

I've also always been partial Bydgoszcz (a city in Poland), Brno (in the Czech Republic), Ticklenaked Pond (in Vermont), and that old standby Lake Titicaca.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Saturday, 15 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I like the name Pasadena. Is it nice there?

― rainy, Sunday, 16 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Megalopolis. First ever really ambitious city-naming, i.e. it translates roughly as "fucking enormous city". Also sounds cool and futuristic despite being built in the 4th century BC.

And I'm partial to Ur. Start minimal, always a good idea.

― Tom, Sunday, 16 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Hammerfest, Norway.

You just can't get any cooler than that!

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Sunday, 16 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I also forgot to mention a vital point, that the exclamation marks in 'St Louis Du Ha! Ha!' are NOT an embellishment.

Ardbeg is another oddball favourite.

Prettiest is Los Angeles.

― Kim, Sunday, 16 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

There's an air force base called Moron in Southern Spain according to today's Guardian.

― Richard Tunnicliffe, Monday, 17 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I can't believe that Robin didn't mention Shitterton. I think Westward ho! has a little charm to it too.

― cabbage, Monday, 17 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Nork (Nork related fact: in my bedroom, I have a massive A-Z map of London and my idiot brother and his lovely wife and I used to spend ages looking for places with funny names. Nork won)

I liked the thing about Surbiton sounding futuristic. Surbitron?

― jamesmichaelward, Monday, 17 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

in new jersey:
creme ridge
mount holly
fresh kills
ong's hat
egg harbor
mahwah
ho-ho-kus
rancocas woods
shellpile
cheesequake
zarephath

― your null fame, Monday, 17 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Spuyten Duyvil, a section of Riverdale in the Bronx.

― Benjamin, Monday, 17 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

It means "Spitting Devil" in old Dutch, which makes it even better. Because it's right by Hells Gate, the most tretcherous body of water in NYC (where the East River, Hudson River and Long Island Sound meet). Sorry I know so much about it, my ex's band used to be on a label named after it.

― kate, Monday, 17 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

not East River Pipe? i'm afraid i don't know any other bands on that label.

― gareth, Tuesday, 18 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Jim Thorpe? Named after the great pre-WW1 pent/dec-athlete?

There's a Ha-Ha Road on the Woolwich/Plumstead border.

I've always like Uttoxeter.

― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 18 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

We'd always pass by BUCKSNORT Texas on the way to my grandparents' place in Fort Worth.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 18 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

East River Pipe are on Spuyten Duyvil?!? Good god, when they turn into a real label? Erm... no. You've never heard of the band, they were a fairly crap 60s garage/psych outfit called the Half Wits, I mean, the Half Breeds. (I think the Half Wits would be a much better name for a 60s garage punk band, don't you?)

― kate, Tuesday, 18 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

So have I, Mike. But it isn't my favourite National Hunt racecourse place name. That'd be Wincanton or Cartmel.

― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 18 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

two years pass...

There's a town in the Czech Republic called Pistov. I think that would get my vote.

― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:36 (twenty years ago) link

Most of my favourites have been taken already (incidentally, to settle discussion upthread, it's Twatt, and it's on Orkney), but no-one has mentioned Rest and Be Thankful which is halfway up the West Highland Way.

I also like really Scottish sounding placenames like Acharacle and Ballachulish.

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:44 (twenty years ago) link

Westward Ho!

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:45 (twenty years ago) link

In Wisconsin, I like Oconomowoc and Wauwatosa. And Kinnickinnick, which is a street.
I also love Florala, Alabama. It's fun to say.

― kirsten (kirsten), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 13:41 (twenty years ago) link

I've always wanted to visit Scrabster in Wick - the name fascinates me. Can't say the same about Nasty though, a village in England.

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 13:54 (twenty years ago) link

Zeal Monachorum

Piddle Trenthyde (sp?)

I have a soft spot for Budleigh Salterton

― chris (chris), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 13:57 (twenty years ago) link

Scrabster isn't in Wick. It's just outside Thurso. It's got nothing but a ferry terminal and a "lovely" view of Dounreay.

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 13:57 (twenty years ago) link

penge

― tom carter (tomc), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 14:13 (twenty years ago) link

I've only been up as far as Skye. My geography ends there. But i still want to meet a Scrab.

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 14:17 (twenty years ago) link

http://www.kolumbus.fi/tommi.oksanen/fos99/img/hi-res/scrabster.jpg

It's horrible (my brother used to live in Thurso)

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 14:19 (twenty years ago) link

Is that the best postcard you could find? Don't diss Thurso.

Oh yeah! Diss.

And Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantisiliogogogoch. (From memory!)

Welsh place-names in Pennsylvania, huh? Funny, we've got Pennsylvania ones in Wales too.

In my area there's a Jacob's Ladder (a very steep grassy hill) which leads up to Paddy's Well, and a Shaunie's Pond. As a child I often wondered if Paddy and Shaunie knew each other, and whether they invited Jacob to their parties.

A couple of Valleys over, there's a Cape of Scotland. Puzzled me for some time till I found out it was an anglicisation of the Welsh "Cae Pysgotlyn", meaning "Field of the Fishpond". Kind of prosaic, but Cape of Scotland is nice.

― Dorien Thomas (Dorien Thomas), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 15:03 (twenty years ago) link

people giggle when i say i'm from kalamazoo.

another juvenile-funny place near detroit is big beaver road. which is exit 69. har har har.

― colette (a2lette), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 15:12 (twenty years ago) link

moose factory, ontario

― dyson (dyson), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 15:18 (twenty years ago) link

High school football games against the Beavers of Beaver Dam were usually massively entertaining. But I don't think anything can beat Moose Factory.

― kirsten (kirsten), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 15:23 (twenty years ago) link

What, no love for Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump, Alberta? Or Dildo, Newfoundland?

― sean c via cell, Tuesday, 6 April 2004 15:24 (twenty years ago) link

Aw, is Moose Factory a joke?

― kirsten (kirsten), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 15:25 (twenty years ago) link

― dyson (dyson), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 15:28 (twenty years ago) link

Skipping 124 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Beeston Bump

― ogmor, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 19:53 (nine years ago) link

Blubberhouses

― ogmor, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 19:54 (nine years ago) link

Mevagissey.

Not least because it comes out something like "Mega-vizzy" when I try to say it.

― Shugazi (Branwell with an N), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 19:59 (nine years ago) link

Me vag is see

― a spectrum is taunting ur OP (wins), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 20:17 (nine years ago) link

Wetwang

― Daphnis Celesta, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 21:14 (nine years ago) link

stranraer

― saer, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 21:16 (nine years ago) link

Humptulips, WA.

― Tomás Piñon (Ryan), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 21:21 (nine years ago) link

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